ulimit

Control the resources available to a process started by the shell, on systems that allow such control.

SYNTAX
      ulimit [-acdfHlmnpsStuv] [limit]

OPTIONS

   -a   All current limits are reported. 

   -c   The maximum size of core files created. 

   -d   The maximum size of a process's data segment. 

   -f   The maximum size of files created by the shell.
        (This is the default option) 

   -H   Change and report the hard limit associated with a resource. 

   -l   The maximum size that may be locked into memory. 

   -m   The maximum resident set size. 

   -n   The maximum number of open file descriptors. 

   -p   The pipe buffer size. 

   -s   The maximum stack size. 

   -S   Change and report the soft limit associated with a resource. 

   -t   The maximum amount of cpu time in seconds. 

   -u   The maximum number of processes available to a single user. 

   -v   The maximum amount of virtual memory available to the process. 

If limit is given, it is the new value of the specified resource. Otherwise, the current value of the soft limit for the specified resource is printed, unless the `-H' option is supplied.

When setting new limits, if neither `-H' nor `-S' is supplied, both the hard and soft limits are set.

Values are in 1024-byte increments, except for `-t', which is in seconds, `-p', which is in units of 512-byte blocks, and `-n' and `-u', which are unscaled values.

The return status is zero unless an invalid option is supplied, a non-numeric argument other than unlimited is supplied as a limit, or an error occurs while setting a new limit.

`ulimit' is a BASH builtin command.

"It's amazing how low you go to get high" - John Lennon

Related commands:

quota - Display disk usage and limits