This section of the display shows the total number of processes and how many are in each of the various process states.
State names vary across systems. Here is a list of the more common state names:
| On cpu | Assigned to a CPU and currently running |
| Running | Currently able to run |
| Sleeping | Awaiting an external event, such as input from a device |
| Stopped | Stopped by a signal, as with control Z |
| Swapped | Virtual address space swapped out to disk |
| Zombie | Exited, but parent has not called "wait" to receive the exit status |