June 4, 1993 GETLOADAVG 3

### NAME

getloadavg - get system load averages

### LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

### SYNOPSIS

```int` getloadavg(```double loadavg[]``, int nelem`)

### DESCRIPTION

The getloadavg(``) function returns the number of processes in the system run queue averaged over various periods of time. Up to ```nelem` samples are retrieved and assigned to successive elements of ```loadavg`[]. The system imposes a maximum of 3 samples, representing averages over the last 1, 5, and 15 minutes, respectively.

### DIAGNOSTICS

If the load average was unobtainable, -1 is returned; otherwise, the number of samples actually retrieved is returned.

### SEE ALSO

uptime(1), kvm_getloadavg(3), sysctl(3)

### HISTORY

The getloadavg(``) function appeared in 4.3BSDReno.