windows-xpcmdtasklist
tasklist output used in pipe is broken
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:
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:
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.
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.