# prlimit

## NAME



           prlimit - get and set process resource limits
    


## SYNOPSIS



           **prlimit**[options] [**--**_resource_[**=**_limits_]] [**--pid** _PID_]
    
           **prlimit**[options] [**--**_resource_[**=**_limits_]] _command_ [_argument_...]
    


## DESCRIPTION



           Given a process ID and one or more resources, **prlimit** tries to
           retrieve and/or modify the limits.
    
           When _command_ is given, **prlimit** will run this command with the
           given arguments.
    
           The _limits_ parameter is composed of a soft and a hard value,
           separated by a colon (:), in order to modify the existing values.
           If no _limits_ are given, **prlimit** will display the current values.
           If one of the values is not given, then the existing one will be
           used. To specify the unlimited or infinity limit (**RLIM_INFINITY**),
           the -1 or 'unlimited' string can be passed.
    
           Because of the nature of limits, the soft limit must be lower or
           equal to the high limit (also called the ceiling). To see all
           available resource limits, refer to the **RESOURCE OPTIONS** section.
    
           •   _soft_ :_hard_ Specify both limits.
    
           •   _soft_ : Specify only the soft limit.
    
           •   :_hard_ Specify only the hard limit.
    
           •   _value_ Specify both limits to the same value.
    


## GENERAL OPTIONS



           **--noheadings**
               Do not print a header line.
    
           **-o** , **--output** _list_
               Define the output columns to use. If no output arrangement is
               specified, then a default set is used. Use **--help** to get a
               list of all supported columns.
    
           **-p** , **--pid** _PID_
               Specify the process ID. Without this option (and without a
               _command_), the running process will be used.
    
           **--raw**
               Use the raw output format.
    
           **--verbose**
               Verbose mode.
    
           **-h** , **--help**
               Display help text and exit.
    
           **-V** , **--version**
               Display version and exit.
    


## RESOURCE OPTIONS



           **-c** , **--core**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum size of a core file.
    
           **-d** , **--data**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum data size.
    
           **-e** , **--nice**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum nice priority allowed to raise.
    
           **-f** , **--fsize**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum file size.
    
           **-i** , **--sigpending**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum number of pending signals.
    
           **-l** , **--memlock**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum locked-in-memory address space.
    
           **-m** , **--rss**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum Resident Set Size (RSS).
    
           **-n** , **--nofile**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum number of open files.
    
           **-q** , **--msgqueue**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum number of bytes in POSIX message queues.
    
           **-r** , **--rtprio**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum real-time priority.
    
           **-s** , **--stack**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum size of the stack.
    
           **-t** , **--cpu**[**=**_limits_]
               CPU time, in seconds.
    
           **-u** , **--nproc**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum number of processes.
    
           **-v** , **--as**[**=**_limits_]
               Address space limit.
    
           **-x** , **--locks**[**=**_limits_]
               Maximum number of file locks held.
    
           **-y** , **--rttime**[**=**_limits_]
               Timeout for real-time tasks.
    


## NOTES



           The prlimit(2) system call is supported since Linux 2.6.36, older
           kernels will break this program.
    


## EXAMPLES



           **prlimit --pid 13134**
               Display limit values for all current resources.
    
           **prlimit --pid 13134 --rss --nofile=1024:4095**
               Display the limits of the RSS, and set the soft and hard
               limits for the number of open files to 1024 and 4095,
               respectively.
    
           **prlimit --pid 13134 --nproc=512:**
               Modify only the soft limit for the number of processes.
    
           **prlimit --pid $$ --nproc=unlimited**
               Set for the current process both the soft and ceiling values
               for the number of processes to unlimited.
    
           **prlimit --cpu=10 sort -u hugefile**
               Set both the soft and hard CPU time limit to ten seconds and
               run sort(1).
    


## AVAILABILITY



           The **prlimit** command is part of the util-linux package which can be
           downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive
           <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>. This page is
           part of the _util-linux_ (a random collection of Linux utilities)
           project. Information about the project can be found at 
           ⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/⟩. If you have a
           bug report for this manual page, send it to
           util-linux@vger.kernel.org. This page was obtained from the
           project's upstream Git repository
           ⟨git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/util-linux/util-linux.git⟩ on
           2025-08-11. (At that time, the date of the most recent commit that
           was found in the repository was 2025-08-05.) If you discover any
           rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
           believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page,
           or you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
           COLOPHON (which is _not_ part of the original manual page), send a
           mail to man-pages@man7.org
    
    util-linux 2.42-start-521-ec46  2025-08-09                     _PRLIMIT_(1)
    


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