jps(1) JDK Commands jps(1)
NAME
jps - list the instrumented JVMs on the target system
SYNOPSIS
Note: This command is experimental and unsupported.
jps [-q] [-mlvV] [hostid]
jps [-help]
OPTIONS
-q Suppresses the output of the class name, JAR file name, and
arguments passed to the main method, producing a list of only
local JVM identifiers.
-mlvV You can specify any combination of these options.
o -m displays the arguments passed to the main method. The output
may be null for embedded JVMs.
o -l displays the full package name for the application's main
class or the full path name to the application's JAR file.
o -v displays the arguments passed to the JVM.
o -V suppresses the output of the class name, JAR file name, and
arguments passed to the main method, producing a list of only
local JVM identifiers.
hostid The identifier of the host for which the process report should be
generated. The hostid can include optional components that
indicate the communications protocol, port number, and other
implementation specific data. See Host Identifier.
-help Displays the help message for the jps command.
DESCRIPTION
The jps command lists the instrumented Java HotSpot VMs on the target
system. The command is limited to reporting information on JVMs for
which it has the access permissions.
If the jps command is run without specifying a hostid, then it searches
for instrumented JVMs on the local host. If started with a hostid, then
it searches for JVMs on the indicated host, using the specified protocol
and port. A jstatd process is assumed to be running on the target host.
The jps command reports the local JVM identifier, or lvmid, for each
instrumented JVM found on the target system. The lvmid is typically, but
not necessarily, the operating system's process identifier for the JVM
process. With no options, the jps command lists each Java application's
lvmid followed by the short form of the application's class name or jar
file name. The short form of the class name or JAR file name omits the
class's package information or the JAR files path information.
The jps command uses the Java launcher to find the class name and
arguments passed to the main method. If the target JVM is started with a
custom launcher, then the class or JAR file name, and the arguments to
the main method aren't available. In this case, the jps command outputs
the string Unknown for the class name, or JAR file name, and for the
arguments to the main method.
The list of JVMs produced by the jps command can be limited by the
permissions granted to the principal running the command. The command
lists only the JVMs for which the principal has access rights as
determined by operating system-specific access control mechanisms.
HOST IDENTIFIER
The host identifier, or hostid, is a string that indicates the target
system. The syntax of the hostid string corresponds to the syntax of a
URI:
[protocol:][[//]hostname][:port][/servername]
protocol
The communications protocol. If the protocol is omitted and a
hostname isn't specified, then the default protocol is a
platform-specific, optimized, local protocol. If the protocol is
omitted and a host name is specified, then the default protocol is
rmi.
hostname
A host name or IP address that indicates the target host. If you
omit the hostname parameter, then the target host is the local
host.
port The default port for communicating with the remote server. If the
hostname parameter is omitted or the protocol parameter specifies
an optimized, local protocol, then the port parameter is ignored.
Otherwise, treatment of the port parameter is
implementation-specific. For the default rmi protocol, the port
parameter indicates the port number for the rmiregistry on the
remote host. If the port parameter is omitted, and the protocol
parameter indicates rmi, then the default rmiregistry port (1099)
is used.
servername
The treatment of this parameter depends on the implementation.
For the optimized, local protocol, this field is ignored. For the
rmi protocol, this parameter is a string that represents the name
of the RMI remote object on the remote host. See the jstatd
command -n option.
OUTPUT FORMAT OF THE JPS COMMAND
The output of the jps command has the following pattern:
lvmid [ [ classname | JARfilename | "Unknown"] [ arg* ] [ jvmarg*
] ]
All output tokens are separated by white space. An arg value that
includes embedded white space introduces ambiguity when attempting to map
arguments to their actual positional parameters.
Note:
It's recommended that you don't write scripts to parse jps output because
the format might change in future releases. If you write scripts that
parse jps output, then expect to modify them for future releases of this
tool.
EXAMPLES
This section provides examples of the jps command.
List the instrumented JVMs on the local host:
jps
18027 Java2Demo.JAR
18032 jps
18005 jstat
The following example lists the instrumented JVMs on a remote host. This
example assumes that the jstat server and either the its internal RMI
registry or a separate external rmiregistry process are running on the
remote host on the default port (port 1099). It also assumes that the
local host has appropriate permissions to access the remote host. This
example includes the -l option to output the long form of the class names
or JAR file names.
jps -l remote.domain
3002 /opt/jdk1.7.0/demo/jfc/Java2D/Java2Demo.JAR
2857 sun.tools.jstatd.jstatd
The following example lists the instrumented JVMs on a remote host with a
nondefault port for the RMI registry. This example assumes that the
jstatd server, with an internal RMI registry bound to port 2002, is
running on the remote host. This example also uses the -m option to
include the arguments passed to the main method of each of the listed
Java applications.
jps -m remote.domain:2002
3002 /opt/jdk1.7.0/demo/jfc/Java2D/Java2Demo.JAR
3102 sun.tools.jstatd.jstatd -p 2002
JDK 27.0.1 2026 jps(1)
openjdk27-zulu 27.30.107 - Generated Tue Oct 27 08:23:28 CDT 2026