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Krishnapriya Rajeev

Krishnapriya Rajeev

28-Mar-2023

In an operating system, a process state refers to the current condition of a running program or process. The process state is used by the operating system to manage the execution of processes and ensure that they are run in an efficient and orderly manner. 

What is the Process State in the operating system?

There are several process states that a process can be in, including 

  • New: When a new process is created, it is in the “new” state. At this stage, the process is initialized, and its resources such as memory, input/output resources, and program code are allocated. Once the initialization is complete, the process is moved to the "ready" state.
  • Running: When a process is running, it gets executed by the CPU. Only one process can be in the running state on a single CPU at a time. However, multiple processes can be in the running state if there are multiple CPUs available or if the operating system is using time-sharing to allow each process to use the CPU for a short time.
  • Waiting: When a process is waiting, it is waiting for some event to occur, such as the completion of an I/O operation or the receipt of a signal from another process. While in this state, the process is not using the CPU, and it is not making progress toward completing its task.
  • Ready: When a process is in the ready state, it is waiting to be assigned to a CPU. The operating system maintains a queue of all processes that are ready to run, and it selects a process from this queue to run on the CPU when one becomes available. Processes in the ready state are not currently using the CPU, but they are prepared to run as soon as the CPU becomes available.
  • Terminated: When a process has finished its task, it is moved to the "terminated" or "completed" state. At this stage, the operating system deallocates the resources that were allocated to the process, such as memory, input/output resources, and other system resources.
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