PFIND(9)

💖 PFIND(9) — locate a process by number 💖

okay so this is from the Kernel Developer's Manual, section 9, and we're doing a little process-hunting expedition, bestie. no cap. 🫶

🎀 NAME 🎀

pfind, pfind_any, pfind_any_locked — locate a process by number

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/proc.h>

struct proc *
pfind(pid_t pid);

struct proc *
pfind_any(pid_t pid);

struct proc *
pfind_any_locked(pid_t pid);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so pfind() is the main character here: it walks the list of processes in the system, looking for the one with a process ID of pid. if that process exists, and is not in the zombie state, you get a pointer to the process structure back. slay. 💅

pfind_any() takes a pid as its argument too. it searches the allproc list and returns the first process with a matching PID, and its state may be PRS_ZOMBIE — so yes, zombies are allowed here, no cap. 🧟‍♀️

pfind_any_locked() is similar to pfind_any(), but it does not lock the process hash bucket for the given pid. instead, it asserts the corresponding process hash bucket is already locked. iykyk. 🔐

all three functions — pfind(), pfind_any(), and pfind_any_locked() — lock the proc structure before returning. periodt. 👑

🌸 RETURN VALUES 🌸

pfind(), pfind_any(), and pfind_any_locked() return pointer to a proc structure on success or NULL on failure. that's the whole vibe check. ✨

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

• pget(9)
• pgfind(9)

💜 AUTHORS 💜

this manual page was written by Evan Sarmiento <kaworu@sektor7.ath.cx>. iconic. 🫶

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Debian · November 3, 2025 · PFIND(9) — mwah 💋