1IPCRM(1) Linux Programmer's Manual IPCRM(1)
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6 ipcrm - remove a message queue, semaphore set or shared memory id
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9 ipcrm [ -M key | -m id | -Q key | -q id | -S key | -s id ] ...
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11 deprecated usage
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13 ipcrm {shm|msg|sem} id...
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16 ipcrm removes System V interprocess communication (IPC) objects and
17 associated data structures from the system. In order to delete such
18 objects, you must be superuser, or the creator or owner of the object.
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20 System V IPC objects are of three types: shared memory, message queues,
21 and semaphores. Deletion of a message queue or semaphore object is
22 immediate (regardless of whether any process still holds an IPC identi‐
23 fier for the object). A shared memory object is only removed after all
24 currently attached processes have detached (shmdt(2)) the object from
25 their virtual address space.
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27 Two syntax styles are supported. The old Linux historical syntax spec‐
28 ifies a three letter keyword indicating which class of object is to be
29 deleted, followed by one or more IPC identifiers for objects of this
30 type.
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32 The SUS-compliant syntax allows the specification of zero or more
33 objects of all three types in a single command line, with objects spec‐
34 ified either by key or by identifier. (See below.) Both keys and iden‐
35 tifiers may be specified in decimal, hexadecimal (specified with an
36 initial '0x' or '0X'), or octal (specified with an initial '0').
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40 -M shmkey
41 removes the shared memory segment created with shmkey after the
42 last detach is performed.
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44 -m shmid
45 removes the shared memory segment identified by shmid after the
46 last detach is performed.
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48 -Q msgkey
49 removes the message queue created with msgkey.
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51 -q msgid
52 removes the message queue identified by msgid.
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54 -S semkey
55 removes the semaphore created with semkey.
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57 -s semid
58 removes the semaphore identified by semid.
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60 The details of the removes are described in msgctl(2), shmctl(2), and
61 semctl(2). The identifiers and keys may be found by using ipcs(1).
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64 In its first Linux implementation, ipcrm used the deprecated syntax
65 shown in the SYNOPSIS. Functionality present in other *nix implementa‐
66 tions of ipcrm has since been added, namely the ability to delete
67 resources by key (not just identifier), and to respect the same com‐
68 mand-line syntax. For backward compatibility the previous syntax is
69 still supported.
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72 ipcs(1), ipcmk(1), msgctl(2), msgget(2), semctl(2), semget(2),
73 shmctl(2), shmdt(2), shmget(2), ftok(3)
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76 The ipcrm command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is available
77 from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-ng/.
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81ipcrm last change: 19 March 2002 IPCRM(1)