Unix ps -l priority

Question

Why does unix ps -l whows one number in column "PRI" but in same time ps -o pri shows another number?

P.S. cpu and nice are zero for those processes

Answer 1

In linux procps, the column labeled "PRI" in ps -l is -o opri. Examining output.c shows half a dozen different priority output types:

// "priority"         (was -20..20, now -100..39)
// "intpri" and "opri" (was 39..79, now  -40..99)
// "pri_foo"   --  match up w/ nice values of sleeping processes (-120..19)
// "pri_bar"   --  makes RT pri show as negative       (-99..40)
// "pri_baz"   --  the kernel's ->prio value, as of Linux 2.6.8     (1..140)
// "pri"               (was 20..60, now    0..139)
// "pri_api"   --  match up w/ RT API    (-40..99)

Show all of them with:

ps -o pid,priority,opri,pri_foo,pri_bar,pri_baz,pri,pri_api,comm

  PID PRI PRI FOO BAR BAZ PRI API COMMAND
 2201  20  80   0  21 120  19 -21 zsh
 2762  30  90  10  31 130   9 -31 cat
 2826  20  80   0  21 120  19 -21 ps

(cat is nice cat /dev/zero > /dev/null)

The -o pri value is not suitable for the UNIX standard's "PRI" column, since higher numbers must mean lower priority, so it is not used. I believe these two columns are copied from solaris. The -o pri column is used internally for the "PRI" column of ps -lc.