Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3: System Administration Guide
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# 43.6. Understanding `/dev/profile/`

The `/dev/oprofile/` directory contains the file system for OProfile. Use the `cat` command to display the values of the virtual files in this file system. For example, the following command displays the type of processor OProfile detected:

    cat /dev/oprofile/cpu_type

A directory exists in `/dev/oprofile/` for each counter. For example, if there are 2 counters, the directories `/dev/oprofile/0/` and `dev/oprofile/1/` exist.

Each directory for a counter contains the following files:

- `count` — Interval between samples

- `enabled` — If 0, the counter is off and no samples are collected for it; If 1, the counter is on and samples are being collected for it

- `event` — Event to monitor

- `kernel` — If 0, samples are not collected for this counter event when the processor is in kernel-space; if 1, samples are collected even if the processor is in kernel-space

- `unit_mask` — Which unit masks are enabled for the counter

- `user` — If 0, samples are not collected for the counter event when the processor is in user-space; if 1, samples are collected even if the processor is in user-space

The values of these files can be retrieved with the `cat` command. For example:

    cat /dev/oprofile/0/count

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