It definitely does not cause feelings. <0.X.0> is your local Pid , <DX0> is a distributed option, where D is the node number. Learn more about Pid strcuture . But D will be different for different nodes. Therefore, locally you cannot receive this information.
Of course, you can implement a special RPC call that will return to the distributed Pid calling it (the calling). But the results will differ in the answers. To do this, simply try:
Start three different nodes and register the shell as self .
First
erl -sname one Erlang R15B01 (erts-5.9.1) [source] [64-bit] [smp:8:8] [async-threads:0] [hipe] [kernel-poll:false] Eshell V5.9.1 (abort with ^G) ( one@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )1> node(). ' one@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro ' ( one@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )2> register(shell, self()). true
Second
erl -sname two Erlang R15B01 (erts-5.9.1) [source] [64-bit] [smp:8:8] [async-threads:0] [hipe] [kernel-poll:false] Eshell V5.9.1 (abort with ^G) ( two@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )1> node(). ' two@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro ' ( two@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )2> register(shell, self()). true
Third
erl -sname three Erlang R15B01 (erts-5.9.1) [source] [64-bit] [smp:8:8] [async-threads:0] [hipe] [kernel-poll:false] Eshell V5.9.1 (abort with ^G) ( three@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )1> node(). ' three@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro ' ( three@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )2> register(shell, self()). true
Now go back to node one and try
( one@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )6> net_kernel:connect(' two@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro '). true ( one@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )7> net_kernel:connect('threeAlexeys-MacBook-Pro'). true ( one@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )8> {shell, ' two@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro '} ! {hello, from, self()}. {hello,from,<0.147.0>} ( one@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )82> {shell, ' three@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro '} ! {hello, from, self()}. {hello,from,<0.147.0>}
Check result on nodes two
( two@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )3> flush(). Shell got {hello,from,<6767.147.0>} ok
and tree
( three@Alexeys-MacBook-Pro )3> flush(). Shell got {hello,from,<6803.147.0>} ok
As you can see, the first part of Pid is different: <6767.147.0> and <6803.147.0> .