(first of all, i realize now that -ww is usually all you need -- i can't remember why, but some where i got it in my head that on some systems, you need -www)
I don't have any documentation to back this up, but as i
understand it, this is what happens:
-
If /usr/ucb/ps has no idea where it's output is going
(ie: you are redirecting it, or on a dumb terminal) then it follows the strict
definition in the manpage: 80 chars, unless you use -w in
which case it's 132 chars, unless you use -ww(w) in which case
it's as wide as possible.
- If you are using a non-dumb terminal, and /usr/ucb/ps
can determine your terminal width, then it will use that
width by default. if you use -w (or -ww or -www) it will output as much as possible
you probably aren't really seeing -w truncated to 80 characters when you pipe it -- you're probably seeing it truncated to 132, which is all -w is documented to give you.
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