fork() execution in for loop

Question

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    int i = 0;
    while (i < 2) {
        fork();
        system(\"ps -o pid,ppid,comm,stat\");
        i++;
     }
     return (EX         


        

Answer 1

6 times.

It creates a process tree like this:

A-+
  |-B-+
  |   |-C-+
  |-D

A does it twice (i=0)

B does it twice (i=0)

C does it once (i=1)

D does it once (i=1)

Note that my usage of letters is to distinguish them. There's no predictable output ordering since process switching is non-deterministic to the eyes of a programmer.