bsd man page for getloadavg

GETLOADAVG(3)						     Library Functions Manual						     GETLOADAVG(3)

NAME
       getloadavg - get system load averages

SYNOPSIS
       getloadavg(loadavg, nelem)
	      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), sysctl(3), sysctl(8).

HISTORY
       The getloadavg function appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.

       This function replaces the 2.9BSD compatibility routine getla().

4th Berkeley Distribution					 January 15, 1995						     GETLOADAVG(3)