1jobs(1) User Commands jobs(1)
2
6 jobs, fg, bg, stop, notify - control process execution
7
9 sh
10 jobs [-p | -l] [% job_id...]
11 jobs -x command [arguments]
14 fg [% job_id...]
17 bg [% job_id...]
20 stop % job_id...
23 stop pid...
26 csh
29 jobs [-l]
30 fg [% job_id]
33 bg [% job_id]...
36 notify [% job_id]...
39 stop % job_id...
42 stop pid...
45 ksh
48 jobs [-lnp] [% job_id...]
49 fg [% job_id...]
52 bg [% job_id...]
55 stop % job_id...
58 stop pid...
61 ksh93
64 jobs [-lnp] [job_id...]
65 fg [job_id...]
68 bg [job_id...]
71
74 sh
75 When Job Control is enabled, the Bourne shell built-in jobs reports all
76 jobs that are stopped or executing in the background. If %job_id is
77 omitted, all jobs that are stopped or running in the background is
78 reported. The following options modify or enhance the output of jobs:
79 -l Reports the process group ID and working directory of the jobs.
81 -p Reports only the process group ID of the jobs.
84 -x Replaces any job_id found in command or arguments with the corre‐
87 sponding process group ID, and then executes command passing it
88 arguments.
89 When the shell is invoked as jsh, Job Control is enabled in addition to
93 all of the functionality described previously for sh. Typically Job
94 Control is enabled for the interactive shell only. Non-interactive
95 shells typically do not benefit from the added functionality of Job
96 Control.
97 With Job Control enabled every command or pipeline the user enters at
100 the terminal is called a job_id. All jobs exist in one of the following
101 states: foreground, background or stopped. These terms are defined as
102 follows:
103 1. A job in the foreground has read and write access to the
105 controlling terminal.
106 2. A job in the background is denied read access and has condi‐
108 tional write access to the controlling terminal (see
109 stty(1))
110 3. A stopped job is a job that has been placed in a suspended
112 state, usually as a result of a SIGTSTP signal (see sig‐
113 nal.h(3HEAD)).
114 Every job that the shell starts is assigned a positive integer, called
117 a job_id number which is tracked by the shell and are used as an iden‐
118 tifier to indicate a specific job. Additionally, the shell keeps track
119 of the current and previous jobs. The current job is the most recent
120 job to be started or restarted. The previous job is the first non-cur‐
121 rent job.
122 The acceptable syntax for a Job Identifier is of the form:
125 %job_id
128 where job_id can be specified in any of the following formats:
131 % or + for the current job
133 − for the previous job
136 ?<string> specify the job for which the command line uniquely con‐
139 tains string.
140 n for job number n, where n is a job number
143 pref where pref is a unique prefix of the command name (for
146 example, if the command ls −l name were running in the
147 background, it could be referred to as %ls); pref cannot
148 contain blanks unless it is quoted.
149 When Job Control is enabled, fg resumes the execution of a stopped job
153 in the foreground, also moves an executing background job into the
154 foreground. If %job_id is omitted the current job is assumed.
155 When Job Control is enabled, bg resumes the execution of a stopped job
158 in the background. If %job_id is omitted the current job is assumed.
159 stop stops the execution of a background job(s) by using its job_id, or
162 of any process by using its pid; see ps(1).
163 csh
165 The C shell built-in, jobs, without an argument, lists the active jobs
166 under job control.
167 -l List process IDs, in addition to the normal information.
169 The shell associates a numbered job_id with each command sequence to
173 keep track of those commands that are running in the background or have
174 been stopped with TSTP signals (typically Control-Z). When a command or
175 command sequence (semicolon-separated list) is started in the back‐
176 ground using the & metacharacter, the shell displays a line with the
177 job number in brackets and a list of associated process numbers:
178 [1] 1234
181 To see the current list of jobs, use the jobs built-in command. The job
184 most recently stopped (or put into the background if none are stopped)
185 is referred to as the current job and is indicated with a `+'. The pre‐
186 vious job is indicated with a `−'; when the current job is terminated
187 or moved to the foreground, this job takes its place (becomes the new
188 current job).
189 To manipulate jobs, refer to the bg, fg, kill, stop, and % built-in
192 commands.
193 A reference to a job begins with a `%'. By itself, the percent sign
196 refers to the current job.
197 % %+ %% The current job.
199 %− The previous job.
202 %j Refer to job j as in: `kill -9 %j'. j can be a job number,
205 or a string that uniquely specifies the command line by
206 which it was started; `fg %vi' might bring a stopped vi job
207 to the foreground, for instance.
208 %?string Specify the job for which the command line uniquely con‐
211 tains string.
212 A job running in the background stops when it attempts to read from the
216 terminal. Background jobs can normally produce output, but this can be
217 suppressed using the `stty tostop' command.
218 fg brings the current or specified job_id into the foreground.
221 bg runs the current or specified jobs in the background.
224 stop stops the execution of a background job(s) by using its job_id, or
227 of any process by using its pid; see ps(1).
228 notify notifies the user asynchronously when the status of the current
231 job or specified jobs changes.
232 ksh
234 jobs displays the status of the jobs that were started in the current
235 shell environment. When jobs reports the termination status of a job,
236 the shell removes its process ID from the list of those known in the
237 current shell execution environment.
238 job_id specifies the jobs for which the status is to be displayed. If
241 no job_id is specified, the status information for all jobs are dis‐
242 played.
243 The following options modify or enhance the output of jobs:
246 -l (The letter ell.) Provides more information about each job
248 listed. This information includes the job number, current job,
249 process group ID, state and the command that formed the job.
250 -n Displays only jobs that have stopped or exited since last noti‐
253 fied.
254 -p Displays only the process IDs for the process group leaders of
257 the selected jobs.
258 By default, jobs displays the status of all the stopped jobs, running
262 background jobs, and all jobs whose status has changed and have not
263 been reported by the shell.
264 If the monitor option of the set command is turned on, an interactive
267 shell associates a job with each pipeline. It keeps a table of current
268 jobs, printed by the jobs command, and assigns them small integer num‐
269 bers. When a job is started asynchronously with &, the shell prints a
270 line which looks like:
271 [1] 1234
274 indicating that the job, which was started asynchronously, was job num‐
277 ber 1 and had one (top-level) process, whose process id was 1234.
278 If you are running a job and wish to do something else you can hit the
281 key ^Z (Control-Z) which sends a STOP signal to the current job. The
282 shell then normally indicates that the job has been "Stopped" (see OUT‐
283 PUT below), and print another prompt. You can then manipulate the state
284 of this job, putting it in the background with the bg command, or run
285 some other commands and then eventually bring the job back into the
286 foreground with the foreground command fg. A ^Z takes effect immedi‐
287 ately and is like an interrupt, in that pending output and unread input
288 are discarded when it is typed.
289 There are several ways to refer to jobs in the shell. A job can be
292 referred to by the process id of any process of the job or by one of
293 the following:
294 %number The job with the specified number.
296 %string Any job whose command line begins with string; works only
299 in the interactive mode when the history file is active.
300 %?string Any job whose command line contains string; works only in
303 the interactive mode when the history file is active.
304 %% Current job.
307 %+ Equivalent to %%.
310 %− Previous job.
313 The shell learns immediately whenever a process changes state. It nor‐
317 mally informs you whenever a job becomes blocked so that no further
318 progress is possible, but only just before it prints a prompt. This is
319 done so that it does not otherwise disturb your work. When the monitor
320 mode is on, each background job that completes triggers any trap set
321 for CHLD. When you try to leave the shell while jobs are running or
322 stopped, you are warned that `You have stopped (running) jobs.' You can
323 use the jobs command to see what they are. If you do this or immedi‐
324 ately try to exit again, the shell does not warn you a second time, and
325 the stopped jobs are terminated.
326 fg moves a background job from the current environment into the fore‐
329 ground. Using fg to place a job in the foreground removes its process
330 ID from the list of those known in the current shell execution environ‐
331 ment. The fg command is available only on systems that support job con‐
332 trol. If job_id is not specified, the current job is brought into the
333 foreground.
334 bg resumes suspended jobs from the current environment by running them
337 as background jobs. If the job specified by job_id is already a running
338 background job, bg has no effect and exits successfully. Using bg to
339 place a job into the background causes its process ID to become `known
340 in the current shell execution environment, as if it had been started
341 as an asynchronous list. The bg command is available only on systems
342 that support job control. If job_id is not specified, the current job
343 is placed in the background.
344 stop stops the execution of a background job(s) by using its job_id, or
347 of any process by using its pid. See ps(1).
348 ksh93
350 jobs displays information about specified jobs that were started by the
351 current shell environment on standard output. The information contains
352 the job number enclosed in [...], the status, and the command line that
353 started the job.
354 If job_id is omitted, jobs displays the status of all stopped jobs,
357 background jobs, and all jobs whose status has changed since last
358 reported by the shell.
359 When jobs reports the termination status of a job, the shell removes
362 the job from the list of known jobs in the current shell environment.
363 The following options modify or enhances the output of jobs:
366 -l Displays process IDs after the job number in addition to the
368 usual information.
369 -n Displays only the jobs whose status has changed since the last
372 prompt was displayed.
373 -p Displays the process group leader IDs for the specified jobs.
376 job_id can be specified to jobs, fg, and bg as one of the following:
380 number The process id of job.
382 -number The process group id of job.
385 %number The job number.
388 %string The job whose name begins with string.
391 %?string The job whose name contains string.
394 %+ The current job.
397 %%
398 %- The previous job.
400 fg places the specified jobs into the foreground in sequence and sends
404 a CONT signal to start each running. If job_id is omitted, the most
405 recently started or stopped background job is moved to the foreground.
406 bg places the specified jobs into the background and sends a CONT sig‐
409 nal to start them running. If job_id is omitted, the most recently
410 started or stopped background job is resumed or continued in the back‐
411 ground.
412
414 If the -p option is specified, the output consists of one line for each
415 process ID:
416 "%d\n", "process ID"
419 Otherwise, if the -l option is not specified, the output is a series of
422 lines of the form:
423 "[%d] %c %s %s\n", job-number, current, state, command
426 where the fields are as follows:
429 current The character + identifies the job that would be used as
431 a default for the fg or bg commands. This job can also be
432 specified using the job_id %+ or %% . The character −
433 identifies the job that would become the default if the
434 current default job were to exit; this job can also be
435 specified using the job_id %− . For other jobs, this
436 field is a space character. At most, one job can be iden‐
437 tified with + and at most one job can be identified with
438 −. If there is any suspended job, then the current job is
439 a suspended job. If there are at least two suspended
440 jobs, then the previous job is also a suspended job.
441 job-number A number that can be used to identify the process group
444 to the wait, fg, bg, and kill utilities. Using these
445 utilities, the job can be identified by prefixing the job
446 number with %.
447 state One of the following strings in the POSIX Locale:
450 Running Indicates that the job has not been
452 suspended by a signal and has not
453 exited.
454 Done Indicates that the job completed and
457 returned exit status zero.
458 Done(code) Indicates that the job completed nor‐
461 mally and that it exited with the
462 specified non-zero exit status, code,
463 expressed as a decimal number.
464 Stopped Indicates that the job was stopped.
467 Stopped(SIGTSTP) Indicates that the job was suspended
470 by the SIGTSTP signal.
471 Stopped(SIGSTOP) Indicates that the job was suspended
474 by the SIGSTOP signal.
475 Stopped(SIGTTIN) Indicates that the job was suspended
478 by the SIGTTIN signal.
479 Stopped(SIGTTOU) Indicates that the job was suspended
482 by the SIGTTOU signal.
483 The implementation can substitute the string Suspended in
485 place of Stopped. If the job was terminated by a signal,
486 the format of state is unspecified, but it is visibly
487 distinct from all of the other state formats shown here
488 and indicates the name or description of the signal caus‐
489 ing the termination.
490 command The associated command that was specified to the shell.
493 If the -l option is specified, a field containing the process group ID
497 is inserted before the state field. Also, more processes in a process
498 group can be output on separate lines, using only the process ID and
499 command fields.
500
502 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
503 that affect the execution of jobs, fg, and bg: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE,
504 LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
505
507 sh, csh, ksh
508 The following exit values are returned for jobs, fg, and bg:
509 0 Successful completion.
511 >0 An error occurred.
514 ksh93
517 The following exit values are returned for jobs:
518 0 The information for each job is written to standard output.
520 >0 One or more jobs does not exist.
523 The following exit values are returned for fg:
527 exit status of last job One or more jobs has been brought into the
529 foreground.
530 non-zero One or more jobs does not exist or has com‐
533 pleted.
534 The following exit values are returned for bg:
538 0 All background jobs are started.
540 >0 One more jobs does not exist or there are no background jobs.
543
546 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
547 csh, sh, ksh
549 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
550 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
551 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
552 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
553 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
554 │Interface Stability │Committed │
555 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
556 │Standard │See standards(5). │
557 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
558 ksh93
560 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
561 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
562 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
563 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
564 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
565 │Interface Stability │Uncommitted │
566 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
567
569 csh(1), kill(1), ksh(1), ksh93(1), ps(1), sh(1), stop(1),
570 shell_builtins(1), stty(1), wait(1), signal.h(3HEAD), attributes(5),
571 environ(5), standards(5)
572SunOS 5.11 2 Nov 2007 jobs(1)