Process Control Block (PCB)

Related topics:

• Processes
• Zombie Process
• Orphan Process
• Threads

---

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

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