1SKILL(1) Linux User's Manual SKILL(1)
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6 skill, snice - send a signal or report process status
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10 skill [signal to send] [options] process selection criteria
11 snice [new priority] [options] process selection criteria
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15 These tools are probably obsolete and unportable. The command syntax is
16 poorly defined. Consider using the killall, pkill, and pgrep commands
17 instead.
18 The default signal for skill is TERM. Use -l or -L to list available
20 signals. Particularly useful signals include HUP, INT, KILL, STOP,
21 CONT, and 0. Alternate signals may be specified in three ways: -9
22 -SIGKILL -KILL.
23 The default priority for snice is +4. (snice +4 ...) Priority numbers
25 range from +20 (slowest) to -20 (fastest). Negative priority numbers
26 are restricted to administrative users.
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30 -f fast mode This is not currently useful.
31 -i interactive use You will be asked to approve each
32 action.
33 -v verbose output Display information about selected
34 processes.
35 -w warnings enabled This is not currently useful.
36 -n no action This only displays the process ID.
37 -V show version Displays version of program.
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41 Selection criteria can be: terminal, user, pid, command. The options
42 below may be used to ensure correct interpretation. Do not blame
43 Albert for this interesting interface.
44 -t The next argument is a terminal (tty or pty).
46 -u The next argument is a username.
47 -p The next argument is a process ID number.
48 -c The next argument is a command name.
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52 The signals listed below may be available for use with skill. When
53 known, numbers and default behavior are shown.
54 Name Num Action Description
56 () ()
60 0 0 n/a exit code indicates if a signal may be sent
64 ALRM 14 exit
65 HUP 1 exit
66 INT 2 exit
68 KILL 9 exit this signal may not be blocked
69 PIPE 13 exit
70 POLL exit
71 PROF exit
72 TERM 15 exit
73 USR1 exit
74 USR2 exit
75 VTALRM exit
76 STKFLT exit may not be implemented
77 PWR ignore may exit on some systems
78 WINCH ignore
79 CHLD ignore
80 URG ignore
81 TSTP stop may interact with the shell
82 TTIN stop may interact with the shell
83 TTOU stop may interact with the shell
84 STOP stop this signal may not be blocked
85 CONT restart continue if stopped, otherwise ignore
86 ABRT 6 core
87 FPE 8 core
88 ILL 4 core
89 QUIT 3 core
90 SEGV 11 core
91 TRAP 5 core
92 SYS core may not be implemented
93 EMT core may not be implemented
94 BUS core core dump may fail
95 XCPU core core dump may fail
96 XFSZ core core dump may fail
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100 Command Description
101 snice seti crack +7 Slow down seti and crack
102 skill -KILL -v /dev/pts/* Kill users on new-style PTY devices
103 skill -STOP viro lm davem Stop 3 users
104 snice -17 root bash Give priority to root's shell
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108 killall(1) pkill(1) kill(1) renice(1) nice(1) signal(7) kill(2)
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112 No standards apply.
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116 Albert Cahalan <albert@users.sf.net> wrote skill and snice in 1999 as a
117 replacement for a non-free version, and is the current maintainer of
118 the procps collection. Please send bug reports to <procps-feed‐
119 back@lists.sf.net>.
120 ()