sysctl

Displays or changes kernel parameters at runtime.

Ubuntu Arch CentOS Fedora SUSE Gentoo Slackware FreeBSD NetBSD OpenBSD macOS

Verified: 2025-09-09

Syntax

$sysctl [OPTIONEN] [VARIABLE[=VALUE]]

Examples

$sysctl kern.version

$sysctl -a

$sysctl kern.maxfiles=10000

Typical use cases

Standard usage

sysctl --help

Note Enables viewing and modifying kernel variables. Some changes require root privileges. Available on Linux and BSD systems.

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