Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

Name

limit

Synopsis

    limit [-h] [resource [limit]]

Display limits or set a limit on resources used by the current process and by each process it creates. If no limit is given, the current limit is printed for resource. If resource also is omitted, all limits are printed. By default, the current soft limits are shown or set; with -h, hard limits are used. A soft limit may be increased or decreased without requiring special privileges. A hard limit imposes an absolute limit that can’t be exceeded. Only a privileged user may raise it. See also unlimit.

Option

-h

Use hard, not soft, limits.

Resources

concurrency	Maximum number of per-process threads. Not available on all systems.
coredumpsize	Maximum size of a core dump file.
cputime	Maximum number of seconds the CPU can spend; can be abbreviated as cpu.
datasize	Maximum size of data (including stack).
descriptors	Maximum number of open files.
filesize	Maximum size of any one file.
maxproc	Maximum number of processes.
memorylocked	Maximum size a process can lock into memory.
memoryuse	Maximum amount of physical memory that can be allocated to a process.
sbsize	Maximum size of a socket buffer. Not available on all systems.
stacksize	Maximum size of stack.
vmemoryuse	Maximum amount of virtual memory that can be allocated to a process.

Limit

A number followed by an optional character (a unit specifier).

For cputime:	nh (for n hours)
	nm (for n minutes)
	mm:ss (minutes and seconds)
For others: ...