1kill(1) User Commands kill(1)
2
6 kill - terminate or signal processes
7
9 /usr/bin/kill -s signal_name pid...
10 /usr/bin/kill -l [exit_status]
13 /usr/bin/kill [-signal_name] pid...
16 /usr/bin/kill [-signal_number] pid...
19
22 The kill utility sends a signal to the process or processes specified
23 by each pid operand.
24 For each pid operand, the kill utility performs actions equivalent to
27 the kill(2) function called with the following arguments:
28 1. The value of the pid operand is used as the pid argument.
30 2. The sig argument is the value specified by the -s option,
32 the -signal_name option, or the -signal_number option, or,
33 if none of these options is specified, by SIGTERM.
34 The signaled process must belong to the current user unless the user is
37 the super-user.
38 See NOTES for descriptions of the shell built-in versions of kill.
41
43 The following options are supported:
44 -l (The letter ell.) Writes all values of signal_name
46 supported by the implementation, if no operand is
47 specified. If an exit_status operand is specified and
48 it is a value of the ? shell special parameter and
49 wait corresponding to a process that was terminated
50 by a signal, the signal_name corresponding to the
51 signal that terminated the process is written. If an
52 exit_status operand is specified and it is the
53 unsigned decimal integer value of a signal number,
54 the signal_name corresponding to that signal is writ‐
55 ten. Otherwise, the results are unspecified.
56 -s signal_name Specifies the signal to send, using one of the sym‐
59 bolic names defined in the <signal.h> description.
60 Values of signal_name is recognized in a case-inde‐
61 pendent fashion, without the SIG prefix. In addition,
62 the symbolic name 0 is recognized, representing the
63 signal value zero. The corresponding signal is sent
64 instead of SIGTERM.
65 -signal_name Equivalent to -s signal_name.
68 -signal_number Specifies a non-negative decimal integer, signal_num‐
71 ber, representing the signal to be used instead of
72 SIGTERM, as the sig argument in the effective call
73 to kill(2).
74
77 The following operands are supported:
78 pid One of the following:
80 1. A decimal integer specifying a process or
82 process group to be signaled. The process or
83 processes selected by positive, negative and
84 zero values of the pid operand is as
85 described for the kill function. If process
86 number 0 is specified, all processes in the
87 process group are signaled. If the first pid
88 operand is negative, it should be preceded by
89 −− to keep it from being interpreted as an
90 option.
91 2. A job control job ID that identifies a back‐
93 ground process group to be signaled. The job
94 control job ID notation is applicable only
95 for invocations of kill in the current shell
96 execution environment.
97 The job control job ID type of pid is available only on
98 systems supporting the job control option.
99 exit_status A decimal integer specifying a signal number or the exit
102 status of a process terminated by a signal.
103
106 Process numbers can be found by using ps(1).
107 The job control job ID notation is not required to work as expected
110 when kill is operating in its own utility execution environment. In
111 either of the following examples:
112 example% nohup kill %1 &
114 example% system( "kill %1");
115 kill operates in a different environment and does not share the shell's
120 understanding of job numbers.
121
123 When the -l option is not specified, the standard output is not be
124 used.
125 When the -l option is specified, the symbolic name of each signal is
128 written in the following format:
129 "%s%c", <signal_name>, <separator>
131 where the <signal_name> is in upper-case, without the SIG prefix, and
135 the <separator> is either a newline character or a space character. For
136 the last signal written, <separator> is a newline character.
137 When both the -l option and exit_status operand are specified, the sym‐
140 bolic name of the corresponding signal is written in the following for‐
141 mat:
142 "%s\n", <signal_name>
144
147 Example 1 Sending the kill signal
148 Any of the commands:
151 example% kill -9 100 -165
154 example% kill -s kill 100 -165
155 example% kill -s KILL 100 -165
156 sends the SIGKILL signal to the process whose process ID is 100 and to
161 all processes whose process group ID is 165, assuming the sending
162 process has permission to send that signal to the specified processes,
163 and that they exist.
164 Example 2 Avoiding ambiguity with an initial negative number
167 To avoid an ambiguity of an initial negative number argument specifying
170 either a signal number or a process group, the former is always be the
171 case. Therefore, to send the default signal to a process group (for
172 example, 123), an application should use a command similar to one of
173 the following:
174 example% kill -TERM -123
177 example% kill -- -123
178
182 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
183 that affect the execution of kill: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES,
184 and NLSPATH.
185
187 The following exit values are returned:
188 0 At least one matching process was found for each pid operand, and
190 the specified signal was successfully processed for at least one
191 matching process.
192 >0 An error occurred.
195
198 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
199 /usr/bin/kill, csh, ksh, sh
201 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
202 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
203 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
204 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
205 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
206 │CSI │Enabled │
207 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
208 │Interface Stability │Committed │
209 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
210 │Standard │See standards(5). │
211 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
212 ksh93
214 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
215 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
216 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
217 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
218 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
219 │CSI │Enabled │
220 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
221 │Interface Stability │Uncommitted │
222 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
223
225 csh(1), getconf(1), jobs(1), ksh(1), ksh93(1), ps(1), sh(1),
226 shell_builtins(1), wait(1), kill(2), signal(3C), signal.h(3HEAD),
227 attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)
228
230 /usr/bin/kill
231 The number of realtime signals supported is defined by the getconf(1)
232 value _POSIX_RTSIG_MAX.
233 sh
235 The Bourne shell, sh, has a built-in version of kill to provide the
236 functionality of the kill command for processes identified with a
237 jobid. The sh syntax is:
238 kill [ -sig ] [ pid ] [ %job ]...
240 kill -l
241 csh
245 The C-shell, csh, also has a built-in kill command, whose syntax is:
246 kill [-sig][pid][%job]...
248 kill -l
249 The csh kill built-in sends the TERM (terminate) signal, by default, or
254 the signal specified, to the specified process ID, the job indicated,
255 or the current job. Signals are either specified by number or by name.
256 There is no default. Typing kill does not send a signal to the current
257 job. If the signal being sent is TERM (terminate) or HUP (hangup), then
258 the job or process is sent a CONT (continue) signal as well.
259 -l Lists the signal names that can be sent.
261 ksh
264 The syntax of the ksh kill is:
265 kill [-sig][pid][%job]...
267 kill -l
268 The ksh kill sends either the TERM (terminate) signal or the specified
273 signal to the specified jobs or processes. Signals are either specified
274 by number or by names (as specified in signal.h(3HEAD) stripped of the
275 SIG prefix). If the signal being sent is TERM (terminate) or HUP
276 (hangup), then the job or process is sent a CONT (continue) signal if
277 it is stopped. The argument job can be the process id of a process that
278 is not a member of one of the active jobs. In the second form, kill -l,
279 the signal numbers and names are listed.
280 ksh93
282 The syntax of the ksh93 kill is:
283 kill [-n signum] [-s signame] job ...
285 kill [-n signum] [-s signame] -l [arg ...]
286 With the first form in which -l is not specified, kill sends a signal
291 to one or more processes specified by job. This normally terminates the
292 processes unless the signal is being caught or ignored.
293 Specify job as one of the following:
296 number The process id of job.
298 -number The process group id of job.
301 %number The job number.
304 %string The job whose name begins with string.
307 %?string The job whose name contains string.
310 %+ The current job.
313 %%
314 %- The previous job.
316 If the signal is not specified with either the -n or the -s option, the
320 SIGTERM signal is used.
321 If -l is specified, and no arg is specified, then kill writes the list
324 of signals to standard output. Otherwise, arg can be either a signal
325 name, or a number representing either a signal number or exit status
326 for a process that was terminated due to a signal. If a name is speci‐
327 fied the corresponding signal number is written to standard output. If
328 a number is specified the corresponding signal name is written to stan‐
329 dard output.
330 -l List signal names or signal numbers rather than sending
332 signals as described above. The -n and -s options cannot
333 be specified.
334 -n signum Specify a signal number to send. Signal numbers are not
337 portable across platforms, except for the following:
338 0 No signal.
340 1 HUP
343 2 INT
346 3 QUIT
349 6 ABRT
352 9 KILL
355 14 ALRM
358 15 TERM
361 -s signame Specify a signal name to send. The signal names are
365 derived from their names in <signal.h> without the SIG
366 prefix and are case insensitive. kill -l generates the
367 list of signals on the current platform.
368 kill in ksh93 exits with one of the following values:
372 0 At least one matching process was found for each job operand, and
374 the specified signal was successfully sent to at least one match‐
375 ing process.
376 >0 An error occurred.
379SunOS 5.11 11 Aug 2009 kill(1)