ps issue

i think that the output that you get in the 1st example is the details of the command that you just executed
the second time that you use it it doesnt provide you an answer cause there was nothing similar to the thing that u are looking for and since the ps -ef and sed are finish it doesnt provide you info about finished processes.
try it with grep for example, for smth that exists in pe and smth that doesnt exist and you will see
ps -ef | grep firefox
cheers

thank you charizan for fast answer.

a) there are 2 systems, one running 21, the second (at home) 19
b) i do not believe 'grep' will make the difference, i will try later (at home).
c) your answ is unacceptable, i use this cmd since solaris 2.0 (1993) and
    expect a constant output (i prefer 'sed' to 'grep').
d) imho, the kernel write the 'proc'-structure BEVORE running the cmds
     so 'ps' has to report it.

thanks for time&&help

mate i just proposed grep cause im more comfortable with it, if you want u can use whatever makes sense to you or it will help you to ur task!!
cheers!

hello charisan

ps -ef|grep -w ppppp
ps -ef|grep ppppp

your insistence of grep is not acceptable!!
grep, cut, sed, awk, shells, tail, head, more and less, what ever you
use: gives NO OUTPUT.

DOES print NOTHING on 19

thanks

mate to be honest, and sorry that i'll say that... someone's manners are unacceptable!!
here we try to help each other, in case that something is not working it doesnt mean that the 'wrong' info was provided to cause issues!!
so now you discovered a bug in ps, really nice post it so someone can fix it!
good for you that work with unix from 1979 ....
anyway i dont want to turn this into an annoying conversation
take care
bye!