KILL
Section: Linux User's Manual (1)
Updated: November 21, 1999
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NAME
kill - send a signal to a process
SYNOPSIS
kill [ -
signal | -s
signal ]
pid ...
kill [ -L | -V, --version ]
kill -l [
signal ]
DESCRIPTION
The default signal for kill is TERM. Use -l or -L to list available signals.
Particularly useful signals include HUP, INT, KILL, STOP, CONT, and 0.
Alternate signals may be specified in three ways: -9 -SIGKILL -KILL.
Negative PID values may be used to choose whole process groups; see the
PGID column in ps command output. A PID of -1 is special; it indicates
all processes except the kill process itself and init.
SIGNALS
The signals listed below may be available for use with kill.
When known constant, numbers and default behavior are shown.
Name | Num | Action | Description
|
0 | 0 | n/a | exit code indicates if a signal may be sent
|
ALRM | 14 | exit |
|
HUP | 1 | exit |
|
INT | 2 | exit |
|
KILL | 9 | exit | cannot be blocked
|
PIPE | 13 | exit |
|
POLL | | exit |
|
PROF | | exit |
|
TERM | 15 | exit |
|
USR1 | | exit |
|
USR2 | | exit |
|
VTALRM | | exit |
|
STKFLT | | exit | might not be implemented
|
PWR | | ignore | might exit on some systems
|
WINCH | | ignore |
|
CHLD | | ignore |
|
URG | | ignore |
|
TSTP | | stop | might interact with the shell
|
TTIN | | stop | might interact with the shell
|
TTOU | | stop | might interact with the shell
|
STOP | | stop | cannot be blocked
|
CONT | | restart | continue if stopped, otherwise ignore
|
ABRT | 6 | core |
|
FPE | 8 | core |
|
ILL | 4 | core |
|
QUIT | 3 | core |
|
SEGV | 11 | core |
|
TRAP | 5 | core |
|
SYS | | core | might not be implemented
|
EMT | | core | might not be implemented
|
BUS | | core | core dump might fail
|
XCPU | | core | core dump might fail
|
XFSZ | | core | core dump might fail
|
NOTES
Your shell (command line interpreter) may have a built-in kill command.
You may need to run the command described here as /bin/kill to solve
the conflict.
EXAMPLES
- kill -9 -1
-
Kill all processes you can kill.
- kill -l 11
-
Translate number 11 into a signal name.
- kill -L
-
List the available signal choices in a nice table.
- kill 123 543 2341 3453
-
Send the default signal, SIGTERM, to all those processes.
SEE ALSO
pkill(1),
skill(1),
kill(2),
renice(1),
nice(1),
signal(7),
killall(1).
STANDARDS
This command meets appropriate standards. The -L flag is Linux-specific.
AUTHOR
Albert Cahalan <
albert@users.sf.net> wrote kill in 1999 to replace a
bsdutils one that was not standards compliant. The util-linux one might
also work correctly.
Please send bug reports to <procps-feedback@lists.sf.net>
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- SIGNALS
-
- NOTES
-
- EXAMPLES
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- STANDARDS
-
- AUTHOR
-
© Andrew Scott 2006 -
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