The sysctl
command can be used on a Mac
OS X/macOS
system to determine some
machine dependent (machdep) features, such as
Central Processor Unit (CPU) features. E.g., the output of sysctl
machdep.cpu run on a
MacBook Pro
(Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) system with an Intel Core i7 processor is
shown below:
$ sysctl machdep.cpu machdep.cpu.max_basic: 13 machdep.cpu.max_ext: 2147483656 machdep.cpu.vendor: GenuineIntel machdep.cpu.brand_string: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4870HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz machdep.cpu.family: 6 machdep.cpu.model: 70 machdep.cpu.extmodel: 4 machdep.cpu.extfamily: 0 machdep.cpu.stepping: 1 machdep.cpu.feature_bits: 9221960262849657855 machdep.cpu.leaf7_feature_bits: 10155 machdep.cpu.extfeature_bits: 142473169152 machdep.cpu.signature: 263777 machdep.cpu.brand: 0 machdep.cpu.features: FPU VME DE PSE TSC MSR PAE MCE CX8 APIC SEP MTRR PGE MCA C MOV PAT PSE36 CLFSH DS ACPI MMX FXSR SSE SSE2 SS HTT TM PBE SSE3 PCLMULQDQ DTES6 4 MON DSCPL VMX SMX EST TM2 SSSE3 FMA CX16 TPR PDCM SSE4.1 SSE4.2 x2APIC MOVBE P OPCNT AES PCID XSAVE OSXSAVE SEGLIM64 TSCTMR AVX1.0 RDRAND F16C machdep.cpu.leaf7_features: SMEP ERMS RDWRFSGS TSC_THREAD_OFFSET BMI1 AVX2 BMI2 INVPCID FPU_CSDS machdep.cpu.extfeatures: SYSCALL XD 1GBPAGE EM64T LAHF LZCNT RDTSCP TSCI machdep.cpu.logical_per_package: 16 machdep.cpu.cores_per_package: 8 machdep.cpu.microcode_version: 19 machdep.cpu.processor_flag: 5 machdep.cpu.mwait.linesize_min: 64 machdep.cpu.mwait.linesize_max: 64 machdep.cpu.mwait.extensions: 3 machdep.cpu.mwait.sub_Cstates: 270624 machdep.cpu.thermal.sensor: 1 machdep.cpu.thermal.dynamic_acceleration: 1 machdep.cpu.thermal.invariant_APIC_timer: 1 machdep.cpu.thermal.thresholds: 2 machdep.cpu.thermal.ACNT_MCNT: 1 machdep.cpu.thermal.core_power_limits: 1 machdep.cpu.thermal.fine_grain_clock_mod: 1 machdep.cpu.thermal.package_thermal_intr: 1 machdep.cpu.thermal.hardware_feedback: 0 machdep.cpu.thermal.energy_policy: 1 machdep.cpu.xsave.extended_state: 7 832 832 0 machdep.cpu.xsave.extended_state1: 1 0 0 0 machdep.cpu.arch_perf.version: 3 machdep.cpu.arch_perf.number: 4 machdep.cpu.arch_perf.width: 48 machdep.cpu.arch_perf.events_number: 7 machdep.cpu.arch_perf.events: 0 machdep.cpu.arch_perf.fixed_number: 3 machdep.cpu.arch_perf.fixed_width: 48 machdep.cpu.cache.linesize: 64 machdep.cpu.cache.L2_associativity: 8 machdep.cpu.cache.size: 256 machdep.cpu.tlb.inst.large: 8 machdep.cpu.tlb.data.small: 64 machdep.cpu.tlb.data.small_level1: 64 machdep.cpu.tlb.shared: 1024 machdep.cpu.address_bits.physical: 39 machdep.cpu.address_bits.virtual: 48 machdep.cpu.core_count: 4 machdep.cpu.thread_count: 8 machdep.cpu.tsc_ccc.numerator: 0 machdep.cpu.tsc_ccc.denominator: 0 $
You can restrict the information displayed to be more particular by using a parameter shown before the colon on each line. E.g.
$ sysctl machdep.cpu.brand_string machdep.cpu.brand_string: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4870HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz $ sysctl machdep.cpu.core_count machdep.cpu.core_count: 4 $
If you just wish to have the value displayed and not the name as well, you
can use the -n argument to the sysctl command.
-n Show only variable values, not their names. This option is use-
ful for setting shell variables. For instance, to save the page-
size in variable psize, use:
set psize=`sysctl -n hw.pagesize`E.g.:
$ sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4870HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz $