CODEWITHSUNDEEP
clinux
Mariusz
Mariusz

Reputation: 1875

How to get current process name in linux?

How can I get the process name in C? The same name, which is in /proc/$pid/status. I do not want to parse that file. Is there any programmatic way of doing this?

Upvotes: 31

Views: 82615

Answers (8)

Jan Wilmans
Jan Wilmans

Reputation: 823

for posterity, a version that's more C++-ish and works also on MSVC:

https://godbolt.org/z/sh3TnM

#define FMT_HEADER_ONLY
#include <fmt/format.h>

std::string get_current_process_name()
{
    #if defined(__APPLE__) || defined(__FreeBSD__)
        return getprogname();
    #elif defined(_GNU_SOURCE)
        return program_invocation_name;
    #elif defined(_WIN32)
        return __argv[0];
    #else
        return "?";
    #endif
}

int main()
{
    fmt::print("whatsmyname: {}\n", get_current_process_name());
    return 0;
}

// msvc output:
// whatsmyname: C:\Users\<user>\source\repos\Project6\Debug\Project6.exe

Upvotes: 1

raj_gt1
raj_gt1

Reputation: 4701

You can use __progname. However it is not better than argv[0] as it may have portability issues. But as you do not have access to argv[0] it can work as follows:-

extern char *__progname;
printf("\n%s", __progname);

Upvotes: 16

Ales Teska
Ales Teska

Reputation: 1288

This is a version that works on macOS, FreeBSD and Linux.

#if defined(__APPLE__) || defined(__FreeBSD__)
const char * appname = getprogname();
#elif defined(_GNU_SOURCE)
const char * appname = program_invocation_name;
#else
const char * appname = "?";
#endif

Upvotes: 5

SIGSEGV
SIGSEGV

Reputation: 412

If you cannot access argv[] in main(), because you are implementing a library, you can have a look at my answer on a similar question here.

It basically boils down into giving you access to argc, argv[] and envp[] outside of main(). Then you could, as others have already correctly suggested, use argv[0] to retrieve the process name.

Upvotes: 1

Pierre Habouzit
Pierre Habouzit

Reputation: 708

If you're on using a glibc, then:

#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <errno.h>

extern char *program_invocation_name;
extern char *program_invocation_short_name;

See program_invocation_name(3)

Under most Unices, __progname is also defined by the libc. The sole portable way is to use argv[0]

Upvotes: 46

RLT
RLT

Reputation: 4287

I often make use of following call,

char* currentprocname = getprogname();

Upvotes: 5

Michael Krelin - hacker
Michael Krelin - hacker

Reputation: 143269

It's either pointed to by the argv[0] or indeed you can read /proc/self/status. Or you can use getenv("_"), not sure who sets that and how reliable it is.

Upvotes: 32

Borealid
Borealid

Reputation: 98559

Look at the value of argv[0] which was passed to main. This should be the name under which your process was invoked.

Upvotes: 5

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