This cheat sheet covers the most essential commands for the VxWorks C-Shell (the default shell for older versions like 5.x and 6.x). ⚠️ Shell Basics : Must be separated by : Must be enclosed in double quotes Hex Values : Prefixed with 🏃 Task Management Description Display a summary of all active tasks Spawn (start) a new task sp myFunc, arg1, arg2 Spawn a task in a sps myFunc a task by ID or name td 0x12345 a running task ts "tMyTask" a suspended task tr 0x12345 Task Information (detailed status) ti "tMyTask" Task Trace (shows the stack trace) tt 0x12345 🔍 System & Debugging Description Search the system symbol table lkup "myGlobal" checkStack Show stack usage for a specific task checkStack "tShell" printErrno Decode the last error number into English printErrno 0x11 List all recognized hardware devices Display VxWorks version and build info Display command history 💾 Memory Operations Description memory (hex dump) d 0x800000, 128 memory (interactive prompt) m 0x800000 Fill a block of memory with a value fill 0x8000, 100, 0 adrSpaceShow Show memory map / address space adrSpaceShow 📂 File System & Navigation Description List files in current directory Long list (shows sizes/dates) Change directory cd "/ata0/" Print working directory Copy a file copy "old.txt", "new.txt" ⚙️ Kernel & Booting Description Restart the system bootChange Edit boot parameters (IP, file paths) bootChange Load a module into memory < myModule.o Unload a module unld "myModule.o" 💡 Pro Tips : Most commands accept either the (in quotes) or the . Using the ID is often faster. Control Keys to force a reboot if the shell is unresponsive. Redirection
: You can redirect output to a file using standard notation: i > "tasks.txt" If you'd like, I can add sections for Network Troubleshooting ) or specific command-line tools. Which version are you working with?
This quick reference guide covers common VxWorks shell (C interpreter) commands for task management, system diagnostics, and memory manipulation. Task Management Manage real-time tasks and execution flow: sp(entryPt, args) — Spawn a task with default parameters. sps(entryPt, args) — Spawn a task in a td(taskName|taskID) a specific task. ts(taskName|taskID) tr(taskName|taskID) a suspended task. System & Task Information Monitor system resources and task states: — Display a brief synopsis of all active tasks. ti(taskName|taskID) — Show detailed information from the Task Control Block (TCB) tt(taskName|taskID) — Show a stack trace for the specified task. checkStack(taskName|taskID) — Show the current stack usage for a task.
— List all hardware devices recognized by the target system. lkup "symbol" vxworks command cheat sheet
— Search for and list symbols from the system symbol table. Memory & Diagnostics Inspect and modify system memory directly: d(address, [nUnits], [unitSize]) memory contents starting at a hex address. m(address, [unitSize]) memory contents at a specific address interactively. printErrno(n) — Describe the most recent error status (use for the latest). — Display general memory partition and usage statistics. Shell & File System Navigate the environment and control the target: ls ["dir"] — List files in the current or specified directory.
— Change the current working directory (paths must be in quotes). — Print the current working directory. — Restart the target system. ld < filename — Load a module or file into memory. Quick Usage Tips : Must always be enclosed in double quotes cd "/ide0" : Must be separated by for a general overview of available shell commands. commands or object-specific (semaphores, queues) diagnostics? VxWorks Command Cheat Sheet | PDF | Booting - Scribd
Save VxWorks Command Cheat Sheet For Later. Zoom out Zoom in. Task Information Commands. System Information/Modification Commands. VxWorks Command Cheat Sheet | PDF | Booting - Scribd This cheat sheet covers the most essential commands
VxWorks is a real-time operating system (RTOS) that provides a powerful command-line interface, typically accessed via the Kernel Shell (windsh or the target-resident shell) or the User-Mode Shell (cmd) for Real-Time Processes (RTPs). Core Shell Basics
C-Interpreter Syntax: In the standard kernel shell, commands are C-function calls.
Strings must be enclosed in double quotes (e.g., cd "temp"). Part 3: System Information & Status Before you
Arguments are separated by commas (e.g., sp functionName, arg1, arg2).
Switching Shells: In modern versions like VxWorks 7, use the cmd command to switch from the C-interpreter to a more traditional Unix-like command shell. Task Management VxWorks Command Cheat Sheet | PDF | Booting - Scribd
Before you fix anything, you need to know what is running and what hardware is present.
| Command | Description | Use Case |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| i | Lists all tasks (ID, Name, State, Priority, PC). | "Why is my system hanging?" |
| ti "taskName" | Displays detailed Task Information (stack usage, registers). | Stack overflow debugging. |
| version | Shows VxWorks version and build date. | "Are we on 6.9 or 7.0?" |
| show | Generic show command (use with specific objects). | See below. |
| devs | Lists all device drivers installed. | "Is my serial port registered?" |
| memShow | Shows current heap memory usage (free/allocated). | Memory leak detection. |
| sysSuspend | Suspends the system (debug only). | Forcing a crash dump. |
| sysResume | Resumes after sysSuspend. | Recovery. |
version: Displays the VxWorks version number.system: Displays system information, including the processor type and memory size.uptime: Displays the system uptime.memShow: Displays memory usage information.malloc <size>: Allocates memory of the specified size.free <addr>: Frees memory at the specified address.| Command | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| version | Show VxWorks version |
| sysSuspend | Halt system (debug mode) |
| sysResume | Resume from sysSuspend |
| reboot | Reboot the system |
| printError <errno> | Print description of error number |
| errno | Show last error number of current task |
| show <kernelObject> | Generic object info (e.g., show tasks, show semaphores) |
| checkStack | Check stack usage of all tasks |
| spy | Monitor task CPU usage (requires spyLib) |