Check out the quickstart: [Lsof Quickstart][1] I'm surprised no one mentioned the lsof quickstart file (included with lsof). Section "3.a" shows how to find open, unlinked files: lsof -a +L1 *mountpoint* E.g.: [root@enterprise ~]# lsof -a +L1 /tmp COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NLINK NODE NAME httpd 2357 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) mysqld 2588 mysql 4u REG 253,17 0 0 1495 /tmp/ibY0cXCd (deleted) mysqld 2588 mysql 5u REG 253,17 0 0 1496 /tmp/ibOrELhG (deleted) mysqld 2588 mysql 6u REG 253,17 0 0 1497 /tmp/ibmDFAW8 (deleted) mysqld 2588 mysql 7u REG 253,17 0 0 11387 /tmp/ib2CSACB (deleted) mysqld 2588 mysql 11u REG 253,17 0 0 11388 /tmp/ibQpoZ94 (deleted) httpd 3457 root 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 8437 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 8438 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 8439 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 8440 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 8441 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 8442 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 8443 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 8444 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 16990 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 19595 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 27495 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 28142 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) httpd 31478 apache 29u REG 253,17 3926560 0 1499 /tmp/.NSPR-AFM-3457-9820130.0 (deleted) On Red Hat systems to find the local copy of the quickstart file, I usually do this: [root@enterprise ~]# locate -i quickstart |grep lsof /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00QUICKSTART ...or this: [root@enterprise ~]# rpm -qd lsof /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00.README.FIRST /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00CREDITS /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00DCACHE /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00DIALECTS /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00DIST /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00FAQ /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00LSOF-L /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00MANIFEST /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00PORTING /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00QUICKSTART /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00README /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00TEST /usr/share/doc/lsof-4.78/00XCONFIG /usr/share/man/man8/lsof.8.gz [1]: http://www.akadia.com/services/lsof_quickstart.txt