The trace facility is configured and data collection optionally started by the trace command, the detailed syntax of which is described in AIX Version 4.3 Commands Reference.
After trace is configured by the trace command, there are controls to turn data collection on and off and to stop the trace facility (stop deconfigures trace and unpins buffers). There are several ways to invoke the controls: subcommands, commands, subroutines, and ioctl calls. The subroutine and ioctl interfaces are described in Starting and Controlling Trace from a Program.
If the trace routine is configured without the -a option, it runs in subcommand mode. Instead of the normal shell prompt, a prompt of ">" is given. In this mode the following subcommands are recognized:
| trcon | Starts or resumes collection of event data. |
| trcoff | Suspends collection of event data. |
| q or quit | Stops collection of event data and terminates the trace routine. |
| !command | Runs the specified shell command. |
If the trace routine is configured to run asynchronously (trace -a), trace can be controlled by the following commands:
| trcon | Starts or resumes collection of event data. |
| trcoff | Suspends collection of event data. |
| trcstop | Stops collection of event data and terminates the trace routine. |