Every attribute represents the seconds the CPU has spent in the given mode. The attributes availability varies depending on the platform:
user: time spent by normal processes executing in user mode;
on Linux this also includes guest time.
system: time spent by processes executing in kernel mode.
idle: time spent doing nothing.
ps_system_cpu_times()Named list
Platform-specific fields:
nice (UNIX): time spent by niced (prioritized) processes executing
in user mode; on Linux this also includes guest_nice time.
iowait (Linux): time spent waiting for I/O to complete. This is not
accounted in idle time counter.
irq (Linux): time spent for servicing hardware interrupts.
softirq (Linux): time spent for servicing software interrupts.
steal (Linux 2.6.11+): time spent by other operating systems
running in a virtualized environment.
guest (Linux 2.6.24+): time spent running a virtual CPU for guest
operating systems under the control of the Linux kernel.
guest_nice (Linux 3.2.0+): time spent running a niced guest
(virtual CPU for guest operating systems under the control of the
Linux kernel).