Question

OS: windows XP

In a cmd shell, piping the output from tasklist /v does some weird things. I am trying to pipe to grep so I can filter the output, and the results are intermittent and inconsistent. A simpler way to see that the problem resides with tasklist /v is to simply execute the command tasklist /v | more - there must be a bunch of weird (cursor-up??) characters that tasklist /v is spewing out. Anyone have any insight?

Here is the straight output from tasklist /v:

C:\Users\mcintd2\FPF\CVSROOT_working\bin
>tasklist /v

Image Name                   PID Session Name     Session#    Mem Usage Status          User Name                                              CPU Time Window Title
========================= ====== ================ ======== ============ =============== ================================================== ============ ========================================================================
System Idle Process            0 Console                 0         28 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                   258:04:49 N/A
System                         4 Console                 0         72 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     1:24:24 N/A
smss.exe                    1448 Console                 0         60 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:04 N/A
csrss.exe                   1520 Console                 0      3,144 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:07:35 N/A
winlogon.exe                1568 Console                 0      9,440 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:03:03 N/A
services.exe                1612 Console                 0      3,936 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:26:43 N/A
lsass.exe                   1624 Console                 0      3,628 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:07:55 N/A
ibmpmsvc.exe                1788 Console                 0        724 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
nvsvc32.exe                 1820 Console                 0      4,408 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:02:37 NVSVCPMMWindowClass
svchost.exe                 1924 Console                 0      2,872 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:03:50 N/A
svchost.exe                 1976 Console                 0      2,520 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE                            0:01:28 N/A
svchost.exe                  404 Console                 0     35,864 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:31:27 N/A
Smc.exe                      488 Console                 0      7,612 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:32:32 SS
S24EvMon.exe                 752 Console                 0      5,688 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:02 IWMSWindow
svchost.exe                 1064 Console                 0      1,988 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE                            0:00:27 N/A
svchost.exe                 1180 Console                 0      1,732 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE                              0:03:04 N/A
ccSvcHst.exe                1300 Console                 0      3,028 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:05:07 N/A
spoolsv.exe                  324 Console                 0      4,676 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:01:37 N/A
LVPrcSrv.exe                 384 Console                 0      1,240 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:20 N/A
svchost.exe                  680 Console                 0      1,908 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE                              0:00:01 N/A
tphkload.exe                1124 Console                 0        320 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
TPHKSVC.exe                 1368 Console                 0        384 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
trcboot.exe                  200 Console                 0        256 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
PCS_AGNT.EXE                 260 Console                 0        460 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:01 PCS_AGNT
svchost.exe                 1112 Console                 0        412 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE                              0:00:00 N/A
CcmExec.exe                 1168 Console                 0     13,272 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:19:28 N/A
cvsservice.exe              1888 Console                 0        508 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
cvslock.exe                 2056 Console                 0        464 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
DOZESVC.EXE                 2264 Console                 0        260 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
tpnumlk.exe                 2400 Console                 0        692 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
EvtEng.exe                  2408 Console                 0      4,080 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:01 N/A
PresentationFontCache.exe   2720 Console                 0      1,004 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE                              0:00:00 N/A
unsecapp.exe                2828 Console                 0      1,116 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
wmiprvse.exe                2888 Console                 0      4,796 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:06 N/A
miragent.exe                3012 Console                 0      3,624 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:57 N/A
jqs.exe                     3468 Console                 0      1,412 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:13:49 N/A
LMAgent.exe                 3492 Console                 0      5,280 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:41 N/A
CamMute.exe                 3624 Console                 0        204 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
micmute.exe                 3640 Console                 0        312 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
LMS.exe                     3660 Console                 0        848 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:01:23 N/A
mdm.exe                     3692 Console                 0      1,912 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:27 N/A
sqlservr.exe                3708 Console                 0      6,836 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE                            1:34:58 N/A
NACAgent.exe                3780 Console                 0      1,268 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
nvPDsvc.exe                 3892 Console                 0        500 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:19 N/A
PWMDBSVC.exe                3940 Console                 0      1,464 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
RegSrvc.exe                  640 Console                 0        628 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
SgeCtl.exe                  1220 Console                 0        792 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 OleMainThreadWndName
sqlbrowser.exe              1912 Console                 0        248 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE                            0:00:00 N/A
sqlwriter.exe               2072 Console                 0        856 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
svchost.exe                 2088 Console                 0      2,116 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:07 N/A
SUService.exe               2100 Console                 0      4,068 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
Rtvscan.exe                 2168 Console                 0      5,084 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:04:32 N/A
tvt_reg_monitor_svc.exe     2248 Console                 0      1,032 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:17 OleMainThreadWndName
tvtsched.exe                2296 Console                 0      2,376 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 OleMainThreadWndName
wdfmgr.exe                  2212 Console                 0        256 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE                              0:00:00 N/A
UNS.exe                     2356 Console                 0     14,756 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:04:37 N/A
WksCfgSrv.exe               2684 Console                 0      1,508 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:01:04 SafeGuard Easy WksCfgSrv Class
Wuser32.exe                 2812 Console                 0        536 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:23 N/A
ldlcserv.exe                3980 Console                 0        268 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
wmiprvse.exe                3148 Console                 0      2,272 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:05 N/A
TPOSDSVC.exe                3420 Console                 0        412 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:14 tphkmgr
tpnumlkd.exe                3440 Console                 0      2,008 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:03 ThinkPad NumLock/CapsLock Indicator
TPONSCR.exe                 3776 Console                 0        688 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:02 tpvolbar
TpScrex.exe                 2860 Console                 0      3,992 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:01 TpUZoom
wmiprvse.exe                 980 Console                 0      8,456 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE                            0:01:58 N/A
explorer.exe                4112 Console                 0     24,272 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:21:22 N/A
SmcGui.exe                  4388 Console                 0      7,144 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:17:52 Network Activity
wmiprvse.exe                4488 Console                 0      3,436 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:03 N/A
rundll32.exe                1480 Console                 0        364 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 BluetoothNotificationAreaIconWindowClass
tpam.exe                    4284 Console                 0        340 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 dummy
SynTPEnh.exe                4756 Console                 0      4,000 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:21:51 Syn Visual Window
ecview.exe                  4804 Console                 0      2,636 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:39 SafeGuardr Easy
scheduler_proxy.exe         5264 Console                 0        580 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 N/A
rundll32.exe                5292 Console                 0     11,084 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:02:33 ATM main window
tpfnf7sp.exe                5928 Console                 0      1,748 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:02 tpfnf7
SynTPLpr.exe                2600 Console                 0        320 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 Touchpad driver helper window
TpShocks.exe                4464 Console                 0        424 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 N/A
rundll32.exe                4692 Console                 0      5,760 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:03 MediaCenter
GravitixService.exe         3620 Console                 0      6,552 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:06 N/A
pddm.exe                    3212 Console                 0        360 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:01 Desktop Deployment Manager
ccApp.exe                   3460 Console                 0        536 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:09 CCALERT
ctfmon.exe                  5252 Console                 0      2,780 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:01:05 N/A
SCHTASK.EXE                 5144 Console                 0      2,888 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:21 ScheduledTask
cmd.exe                     5364 Console                 0      1,276 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 cmd
thunderbird.exe            15540 Console                 0      1,576 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:19 MCI command handling window
notepad++.exe               5160 Console                 0     11,960 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:02:03 C:\Users\mcintd2\FPF\tasklistOut.txt - Notepad++
OUTLOOK.EXE                19324 Console                 0     52,680 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:25:49 Inbox - Microsoft Outlook
devenv.exe                 28940 Console                 0    154,576 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    2:59:07 FPF - Microsoft Visual Studio
wfcrun32.exe               34880 Console                 0      2,612 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:02 Remote Application Runtime
mstsc.exe                  40500 Console                 0     29,568 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:01:26 N/A
wincvs.exe                 40780 Console                 0     18,228 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:27:55 wincvs - [C:\Users\mcintd2\FPF\CVSROOT_working\bin\]
firefox.exe                39996 Console                 0    513,708 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:41:35 windows xp - tasklist output used in pipe is broken - Stack Overflow - M
WinMergeU.exe              37836 Console                 0      9,052 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:03 WinMerge
cmd.exe                    40036 Console                 0      2,868 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 dummyWindowTitle
cmd.exe                    40600 Console                 0      3,296 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 cmd - tasklist /v
mspdbsrv.exe               42136 Console                 0      3,032 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 N/A
cmd.exe                    43364 Console                 0        108 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 TD
nsload.exe                 43260 Console                 0     13,672 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:36 N/A
conset.exe                 43592 Console                 0        288 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 N/A
nsverctl.exe               44756 Console                 0      5,748 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
tasklist.exe               43156 Console                 0      5,740 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 OleMainThreadWndName

Here is the output from tasklist /v | more :

C:\Users\mcintd2\FPF\CVSROOT_working\bin
>tasklist /v | more

Image Name                   PID Session Name     Session#    Mem Usage Status          User Name                                              CPU Time Window Title
winlogon.exe                1568 Console                 0      9,440 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:03:03 N/A
services.exe                1612 Console                 0      3,996 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:26:36 N/A
svchost.exe                 1976 Console                 0      2,520 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE                            0:01:28 N/A
svchost.exe                 1180 Console                 0      1,732 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE                              0:03:04 N/A
tphkload.exe                1124 Console                 0        320 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
CcmExec.exe                 1168 Console                 0     13,180 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:19:28 N/A
EvtEng.exe                  2408 Console                 0      4,080 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:01 N/A
jqs.exe                     3468 Console                 0      1,440 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:13:45 N/A                                                                     :00:00 N/A
mdm.exe                     3692 Console                 0      1,912 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:27 N/A
RegSrvc.exe                  640 Console                 0        628 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
SUService.exe               2100 Console                 0      4,068 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
UNS.exe                     2356 Console                 0     14,680 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:04:35 N/A
TPOSDSVC.exe                3420 Console                 0        412 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:14 tphkmgr
notepad++.exe               5160 Console                 0     11,960 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:02:03 C:\Users\mcintd2\FPF\tasklistOut.txt - Notepad++
wincvs.exe                 40780 Console                 0     18,228 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:27:25 wincvs - [C:\Users\mcintd2\FPF\CVSROOT_working\bin\]
mspdbsrv.exe               42136 Console                 0      3,032 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 N/A
tasklist.exe               41524 Console                 0      5,748 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 OleMainThreadWndName
more.com                   44544 Console                 0      1,604 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 N/A
nsverctl.exe               44756 Console                 0      5,748 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:00 N/A
tpfnf7sp.exe                5928 Console                 0      1,748 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:02 tpfnf7
C:\Users\mcintd2\FPF\CVSROOT_working\bin                 0        320 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 Touchpad driver helper window
>pShocks.exe                4464 Console                 0        424 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 N/A
rundll32.exe                4692 Console                 0      5,760 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:03 MediaCenter
gravitixService.exe         3620 Console                 0      6,552 K Running         NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM                                     0:00:06 N/A
pddm.exe                    3212 Console                 0        360 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:01 Desktop Deployment Manager
ccApp.exe                   3460 Console                 0        432 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:09 CCALERT
ctfmon.exe                  5252 Console                 0      2,780 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:01:03 N/A
SCHTASK.EXE                 5144 Console                 0      2,888 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:21 ScheduledTask
cmd.exe                     5364 Console                 0      1,276 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:00 cmd
thunderbird.exe            15540 Console                 0      1,576 K Running         MYFIRMMASKED\mywinid                                    0:00:19 MCI command handling window

Notice half the output is missing, and the command prompt winds up in the middle of the list. Invoking tasklist /v | more results in different, bizzare behaviour each time.

Here's a screenshot from the first pause by more:

cmd window

Note how much data is missing and the odd position of the cursor. Here is a sreeenshot after hitting space in the above cmd shell window:

cmd window again

You can't see the cursor this time (I didn't hit the prtsc at the right time), but its on the line immediately above the --- more -- line.

Was it helpful?

Solution

Uh it turns out that tasklist spits garbage to stderr, which in turns causes issues in (display of) later pipe stages.

To see that, change console font to Lucida (in properties), codepage to 437 (chcp 437) and re-run tasklist

To get rid of use tasklist 2>nul | more (or grep, obviously) (As far as I'm able to tell if affects only display, so tasklist |grep whatever >result.txt should also give consistent/proper results.

Tested under same version as yours (5.1.2600 SP3). Annoying... looks like a bug to me.

OTHER TIPS

Piping through more give me no less lines, more actually

C:\Steven\Desktop\etc>tasklist -v | C:\cygwin\bin\wc
     39     448    8780

C:\Steven\Desktop\etc>tasklist -v | more | C:\cygwin\bin\wc
     41     458    9013
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