runlevel(8) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | OVERVIEW | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | EXIT STATUS | ENVIRONMENT | FILES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

RUNLEVEL(8)                     runlevel                     RUNLEVEL(8)

NAME         top

       runlevel - Print previous and current SysV runlevel

SYNOPSIS         top


       runlevel [options...]

OVERVIEW         top

       "Runlevels" are an obsolete way to start and stop groups of
       services used in SysV init. systemd provides a compatibility
       layer that maps runlevels to targets, and associated binaries
       like runlevel. Nevertheless, only one runlevel can be "active" at
       a given time, while systemd can activate multiple targets
       concurrently, so the mapping to runlevels is confusing and only
       approximate. Runlevels should not be used in new code, and are
       mostly useful as a shorthand way to refer the matching systemd
       targets in kernel boot parameters.

       Table 1. Mapping between runlevels and systemd targets
       ┌──────────┬───────────────────┐
       │ Runlevel Target            │
       ├──────────┼───────────────────┤
       │ 0        │ poweroff.target   │
       ├──────────┼───────────────────┤
       │ 1        │ rescue.target     │
       ├──────────┼───────────────────┤
       │ 2, 3, 4  │ multi-user.target │
       ├──────────┼───────────────────┤
       │ 5        │ graphical.target  │
       ├──────────┼───────────────────┤
       │ 6        │ reboot.target     │
       └──────────┴───────────────────┘

DESCRIPTION         top

       runlevel prints the previous and current SysV runlevel if they
       are known.

       The two runlevel characters are separated by a single space
       character. If a runlevel cannot be determined, N is printed
       instead. If neither can be determined, the word "unknown" is
       printed.

       Unless overridden in the environment, this will check the utmp
       database for recent runlevel changes.

OPTIONS         top

       The following option is understood:

       --help
           Print a short help text and exit.

EXIT STATUS         top

       If one or both runlevels could be determined, 0 is returned, a
       non-zero failure code otherwise.

ENVIRONMENT         top

       $RUNLEVEL
           If $RUNLEVEL is set, runlevel will print this value as
           current runlevel and ignore utmp.

       $PREVLEVEL
           If $PREVLEVEL is set, runlevel will print this value as
           previous runlevel and ignore utmp.

FILES         top

       /run/utmp
           The utmp database runlevel reads the previous and current
           runlevel from.

           Added in version 237.

SEE ALSO         top

       systemd(1), systemd.target(5), systemctl(1)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the systemd (systemd system and service
       manager) project.  Information about the project can be found at
       ⟨http:https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd⟩.  If you have
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       ⟨http:https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/#bugreports⟩.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/systemd/systemd.git⟩ on 2023-12-22.  (At that
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       [email protected]

systemd 255                                                  RUNLEVEL(8)

Pages that refer to this page: boot(7)systemd.directives(7)systemd.index(7)