runlevel

Display previous and current SysV runlevel

$ runlevel

$ runlevel --help

runlevel [options]

runlevel prints the previous and current SysV runlevel from the utmp file. A runlevel is a mode of operation in Unix System V-style init systems that defines what services are running.
The output consists of two values: the previous runlevel (or N if unavailable) and the current runlevel.

Mostly relevant for legacy SysV init systems. On systemd-based systems, the concept of runlevels is replaced by targets, though runlevel still works for compatibility. Use systemctl get-default for the systemd equivalent.

init(8), systemctl(1)