I don't know why searches did not find this for me, in the way I looked. however https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/299175/what-does-that-mean-of-pginst3p-rdmetast3up-when-use-fs-usage-in-osx gives some useful data and even the source code. A or S = async / sync N = nocache T is optionally followed by a number: this is something to do with P_DISKIO_TIER_MASK and P_DISKIO_TIER_SHIFT... and then this is optionally followed by U, indicating P_DISKIO_TIER_UPGRADE P = passive PS my other questions still open. For speedier output to a log file use `mawk -W interactive`