# man > slabinfo(5)

[_slabinfo_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/slabinfo/5/markdown)                              File Formats Manual                             [_slabinfo_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/slabinfo/5/markdown)

## NAME
       slabinfo - kernel slab allocator statistics

## SYNOPSIS
### cat /proc/slabinfo

## DESCRIPTION
       Frequently  used  objects  in  the  Linux kernel (buffer heads, inodes, dentries, etc.)  have
       their own cache.  The file _/proc/slabinfo_ gives statistics on these  caches.   The  following
       (edited) output shows an example of the contents of this file:

       $ **sudo cat /proc/slabinfo**
       slabinfo - version: 2.1
       # name    <active_objs> <num_objs> <objsize> <objperslab> <pagesperslab> ...
       sigqueue      100  100  160   25  1 : tunables  0  0  0 : slabdata   4   4  0
       sighand_cache 355   405 2112  15  8 : tunables  0  0  0 : slabdata  27  27  0
       kmalloc-8192   96   96  8192   4  8 : tunables  0  0  0 : slabdata  24  24  0
       ...

       The first line of output includes a version number, which allows an application that is read‐
       ing  the  file  to  handle changes in the file format.  (See VERSIONS, below.)  The next line
       lists the names of the columns in the remaining lines.

       Each of the remaining lines displays information about  a  specified  cache.   Following  the
       cache name, the output shown in each line shows three components for each cache:

       •  statistics

       •  tunables

       •  slabdata

       The statistics are as follows:

       _active_objs_
              The number of objects that are currently active (i.e., in use).

       _num_objs_
              The  total  number of allocated objects (i.e., objects that are both in use and not in
              use).

       _objsize_
              The size of objects in this slab, in bytes.

       _objperslab_
              The number of objects stored in each slab.

       _pagesperslab_
              The number of pages allocated for each slab.

       The _tunables_ entries in each line show tunable parameters for the corresponding cache.   When
       using  the  default  SLUB  allocator,  there  are no tunables, the _/proc/slabinfo_ file is not
       writable, and the value 0 is shown in these fields.  When using the older SLAB allocator, the
       tunables for a particular cache can be  set  by  writing  lines  of  the  following  form  to
       _/proc/slabinfo_:

           # **echo 'name limit batchcount sharedfactor' > /proc/slabinfo**

       Here,  _name_  is the cache name, and _limit_, _batchcount_, and _sharedfactor_ are integers defining
       new values for the corresponding tunables.  The _limit_  value  should  be  a  positive  value,
       _batchcount_  should  be a positive value that is less than or equal to _limit_, and _sharedfactor_
       should be nonnegative.  If any of the specified values is invalid,  the  cache  settings  are
       left unchanged.

       The _tunables_ entries in each line contain the following fields:

       _limit_  The maximum number of objects that will be cached.

       _batchcount_
              On  SMP systems, this specifies the number of objects to transfer at one time when re‐
              filling the available object list.

       _sharedfactor_
              [To be documented]

       The _slabdata_ entries in each line contain the following fields:

       _active_slabs_
              The number of active slabs.

       _nums_slabs_
              The total number of slabs.

       _sharedavail_
              [To be documented]

       Note that because of object alignment and slab  cache  overhead,  objects  are  not  normally
       packed  tightly into pages.  Pages with even one in-use object are considered in-use and can‐
       not be freed.

       Kernels configured with **CONFIG_DEBUG_SLAB **will also have additional statistics fields in each
       line, and the first line of the file will contain the string "(statistics)".  The  statistics
       field  include : the high water mark of active objects; the number of times objects have been
       allocated; the number of times the cache has grown (new pages added to this cache); the  num‐
       ber of times the cache has been reaped (unused pages removed from this cache); and the number
       of times there was an error allocating new pages to this cache.

## VERSIONS
       The _/proc/slabinfo_ file first appeared in Linux 2.1.23.  The file is versioned, and over time
       there have been a number of versions with different layouts:

       1.0    Present throughout the Linux 2.2.x kernel series.

       1.1    Present in the Linux 2.4.x kernel series.

       1.2    A format that was briefly present in the Linux 2.5 development series.

       2.0    Present in Linux 2.6.x kernels up to and including Linux 2.6.9.

       2.1    The current format, which first appeared in Linux 2.6.10.

## NOTES
       Only  root  can  read  and  (if  the  kernel  was  configured  with  **CONFIG_SLAB**)  write  the
       _/proc/slabinfo_ file.

       The total amount of memory allocated to the SLAB/SLUB cache is shown in  the  _Slab_  field  of
       _/proc/meminfo_.

## SEE ALSO
       [**slabtop**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/slabtop/1/markdown)

       The kernel source file _Documentation/vm/slub.txt_ and _tools/vm/slabinfo.c_.

Linux man-pages 6.7                          2023-10-31                                  [_slabinfo_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/slabinfo/5/markdown)