KILL(1) | FreeBSD General Commands Manual | KILL(1) |
NAME
kill — terminate or signal a processSYNOPSIS
kill | [ -s signal_name] pid ... |
kill | -l [ exit_status] |
kill | -signal_name pid ... |
kill | -signal_number pid ... |
DESCRIPTION
The kill utility sends a signal to the processes specified by the pid operands.Only the super-user may send signals to other users' processes.
The options are as follows:
- -s signal_name
- A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default TERM.
- -l [ exit_status]
- If no operand is given, list the signal names; otherwise, write the signal name corresponding to exit_status.
- - signal_name
- A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default TERM.
- - signal_number
- A non-negative decimal integer, specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default TERM.
The following PIDs have special meanings:
- -1
- If superuser, broadcast the signal to all processes; otherwise broadcast to all processes belonging to the user.
Some of the more commonly used signals:
- 1
- HUP (hang up)
- 2
- INT (interrupt)
- 3
- QUIT (quit)
- 6
- ABRT (abort)
- 9
- KILL (non-catchable, non-ignorable kill)
- 14
- ALRM (alarm clock)
- 15
- TERM (software termination signal)
Some shells may provide a builtin kill command which is similar or identical to this utility. Consult the builtin(1) manual page.
EXIT STATUS
The kill utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.EXAMPLES
Terminate the processes with PIDs 142 and 157:
kill 142 157
Send the hangup signal ( SIGHUP) to the process with PID 507:
kill -s HUP 507
Terminate the process group with PGID 117:
kill -- -117
STANDARDS
The kill utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”) compatible.HISTORY
A kill command appeared in Version 3 AT&T UNIX.April 28, 1995 | FreeBSD |