getloadavg(3)              Library Functions Manual              getloadavg(3)

NAME
       getloadavg - get system load averages

LIBRARY
       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdlib.h>

       int getloadavg(double loadavg[], int n);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       getloadavg():
           Since glibc 2.19:
               _DEFAULT_SOURCE
           In glibc up to and including 2.19:
               _BSD_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION
       The getloadavg() function returns the number of processes in the system
       run queue averaged over various periods of time.  Up to n samples are
       retrieved and assigned to successive elements of loadavg[].  The system
       imposes a maximum of 3 samples, representing averages over the last 1,
       5, and 15 minutes, respectively.

RETURN VALUE
       If the load average was unobtainable, -1 is returned; otherwise, the
       number of samples actually retrieved is returned.

ATTRIBUTES
       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
       attributes(7).

       +--------------------------------------------+---------------+---------+
       |Interface                                   | Attribute     | Value   |
       +--------------------------------------------+---------------+---------+
       |getloadavg ()                               | Thread safety | MT-Safe |
       +--------------------------------------------+---------------+---------+
STANDARDS
       BSD.

HISTORY
       4.3BSD-Reno, Solaris.  glibc 2.2.

SEE ALSO
       uptime(1), proc(5)

Linux man-pages 6.14              2025-05-06                     getloadavg(3)