[SOLVED] What does the FD column of pipes listed by lsof mean?

Issue

I'm using the following command to get a list of pipes:

lsof | grep PIPE 

I want to know what the values of the FD column mean (the 5th one href="http://i.imgur.com/KHczptf.png" rel="noreferrer">http://i.imgur.com/KHczptf.png). I think that r and w mean read and write, respectively, but what does the number which follows each of these chars means?

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I know that FD means File Descriptor, what I want to figure out is what means the values shown in the column, like the 3r, 16w, 20r, etc.

Solution

Files are not only opened as streams. Some of those are listed in lsof's manual:

FD    is the File Descriptor number of the file or:

           cwd  current working directory;
           Lnn  library references (AIX);
           err  FD information error (see NAME column);
           jld  jail directory (FreeBSD);
           ltx  shared library text (code and data);
           Mxx  hex memory-mapped type number xx.
           m86  DOS Merge mapped file;
           mem  memory-mapped file;
           mmap memory-mapped device;
           pd   parent directory;
           rtd  root directory;
           tr   kernel trace file (OpenBSD);
           txt  program text (code and data);
           v86  VP/ix mapped file;

      FD  is  followed  by one of these characters, describing the
      mode under which the file is open:

           r for read access;
           w for write access;
           u for read and write access;
           space if mode unknown and no lock
            character follows;
           '-' if mode unknown and lock
            character follows.

      The mode character is followed by one of these lock  charac-
      ters, describing the type of lock applied to the file:

           N for a Solaris NFS lock of unknown type;
           r for read lock on part of the file;
           R for a read lock on the entire file;
           w for a write lock on part of the file;
           W for a write lock on the entire file;
           u for a read and write lock of any length;
           U for a lock of unknown type;
           x  for an SCO OpenServer Xenix lock on part  of the
      file;
           X for an SCO OpenServer Xenix lock on  the   entire
      file;
           space if there is no lock.

      See  the  LOCKS  section  for  more  information on the lock
      information character.

      The FD column contents constitutes a single field for  pars-
      ing in post-processing scripts.

Answered By - konsolebox

Answer Checked By - Mildred Charles (WPSolving Admin)