View source for Process Control Block (PCB)

Related topics:
* [[Processes|<b>Processes</b>]]
* [[Zombie Process|<b>Zombie Process</b>]]
* [[Orphan Process|<b>Orphan Process</b>]]
* [[Threads|<b>Threads</b>]]


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<b>Process Control Block (PCB)</b> is information associated with each process, which may also be a called a "<i>task control block</i>." It is a data structure that keeps track of process metadata. 


* <b>Process state</b> - running, waiting, etc.
* <b>Program counter</b> - location of instruction to next execute.
* <b>CPU registers</b> - contents of all process-centric registers.
* <b>CPU scheduling information</b> - priorities, scheduling queue pointers.
* <b>Memory-management information</b> - memory allocated to the process.
* <b>Accounting information</b> - CPU used, clock time elapsed since start, time limits.
* <b>I/O status information</b> - I/O devices allocated to process, list of open files.