1pgrep(1) User Commands pgrep(1)
2
6 pgrep, pkill - find or signal processes by name and other attributes
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9 pgrep [-flvx] [-n | -o] [-d delim] [-P ppidlist]
10 [-g pgrplist] [-s sidlist] [-u euidlist] [-U uidlist]
11 [-G gidlist] [-J projidlist] [-t termlist]
12 [-T taskidlist] [-c ctidlist] [-z zoneidlist]
13 [pattern]
14 pkill [-signal] [-fvx] [-n | -o] [-P ppidlist]
17 [-g pgrplist] [-s sidlist] [-u euidlist] [-U uidlist]
18 [-G gidlist] [-J projidlist] [-t termlist]
19 [-T taskidlist] [-c ctidlist] [-z zoneidlist]
20 [pattern]
21
24 The pgrep utility examines the active processes on the system and
25 reports the process IDs of the processes whose attributes match the
26 criteria specified on the command line. Each process ID is printed as a
27 decimal value and is separated from the next ID by a delimiter string,
28 which defaults to a newline. For each attribute option, the user can
29 specify a set of possible values separated by commas on the command
30 line. For example,
31 pgrep -G other,daemon
33 matches processes whose real group ID is other OR daemon. If multiple
38 criteria options are specified, pgrep matches processes whose
39 attributes match the logical AND of the criteria options. For example,
40 pgrep -G other,daemon -U root,daemon
42 matches processes whose attributes are:
47 (real group ID is other OR daemon) AND
48 (real user ID is root OR daemon)
49 pkill functions identically to pgrep, except that each matching process
52 is signaled as if by kill(1) instead of having its process ID printed.
53 A signal name or number may be specified as the first command line
54 option to pkill.
55
57 The following options are supported:
58 -c ctidlist Matches only processes whose process contract ID is in
60 the given list.
61 -d delim Specifies the output delimiter string to be printed
64 between each matching process ID. If no -d option is
65 specified, the default is a newline character. The -d
66 option is only valid when specified as an option to
67 pgrep.
68 -f The regular expression pattern should be matched
71 against the full process argument string (obtained
72 from the pr_psargs field of the /proc/nnnnn/psinfo
73 file). If no -f option is specified, the expression is
74 matched only against the name of the executable file
75 (obtained from the pr_fname field of the
76 /proc/nnnnn/psinfo file).
77 -g pgrplist Matches only processes whose process group ID is in
80 the given list. If group 0 is included in the list,
81 this is interpreted as the process group ID of the
82 pgrep or pkill process.
83 -G gidlist Matches only processes whose real group ID is in the
86 given list. Each group ID may be specified as either a
87 group name or a numerical group ID.
88 -J projidlist Matches only processes whose project ID is in the
91 given list. Each project ID may be specified as either
92 a project name or a numerical project ID.
93 -l Long output format. Prints the process name along with
96 the process ID of each matching process. The process
97 name is obtained from the pr_psargs or pr_fname field,
98 depending on whether the -f option was specified (see
99 above). The -l option is only valid when specified as
100 an option to pgrep.
101 -n Matches only the newest (most recently created)
104 process that meets all other specified matching crite‐
105 ria. Cannot be used with option -o.
106 -o Matches only the oldest (earliest created) process
109 that meets all other specified matching criteria. Can‐
110 not be used with option -n.
111 -P ppidlist Matches only processes whose parent process ID is in
114 the given list.
115 -s sidlist Matches only processes whose process session ID is in
118 in the given list. If ID 0 is included in the list,
119 this is interpreted as the session ID of the pgrep or
120 pkill process.
121 -t termlist Matches only processes which are associated with a
124 terminal in the given list. Each terminal is specified
125 as the suffix following "/dev/" of the terminal's
126 device path name in /dev. For example, term/a or
127 pts/0.
128 -T taskidlist Matches only processes whose task ID is in the given
131 list. If ID 0 is included in the list, this is inter‐
132 preted as the task ID of the pgrep or pkill process.
133 -u euidlist Matches only processes whose effective user ID is in
136 the given list. Each user ID may be specified as
137 either a login name or a numerical user ID.
138 -U uidlist Matches only processes whose real user ID is in the
141 given list. Each user ID may be specified as either a
142 login name or a numerical user ID.
143 -v Reverses the sense of the matching. Matches all pro‐
146 cesses except those which meet the specified matching
147 criteria.
148 -x Considers only processes whose argument string or exe‐
151 cutable file name exactly matches the specified pat‐
152 tern to be matching processes. The pattern match is
153 considered to be exact when all characters in the
154 process argument string or executable file name match
155 the pattern.
156 -z zoneidlist Matches only processes whose zone ID is in the given
159 list. Each zone ID may be specified as either a zone
160 name or a numerical zone ID. This option is only use‐
161 ful when executed in the global zone. If the pkill
162 utility is used to send signals to processes in other
163 zones, the process must have asserted the
164 {PRIV_PROC_ZONE} privilege (see privileges(5)).
165 -signal Specifies the signal to send to each matched process.
168 If no signal is specified, SIGTERM is sent by default.
169 The value of signal can be one of the symbolic names
170 defined in signal.h(3HEAD) without the SIG prefix, or
171 the corresponding signal number as a decimal value.
172 The -signal option is only valid when specified as the
173 first option to pkill.
174
177 The following operand is supported:
178 pattern Specifies an Extended Regular Expression (ERE) pattern to
180 match against either the executable file name or full
181 process argument string. See regex(5) for a complete
182 description of the ERE syntax.
183
186 Example 1 Obtaining a Process ID
187 Obtain the process ID of sendmail:
190 example% pgrep -x -u root sendmail
193 283
194 Example 2 Terminating a Process
198 Terminate the most recently created xterm:
201 example% pkill -n xterm
204
208 The following exit values are returned:
209 0 One or more processes were matched.
211 1 No processes were matched.
214 2 Invalid command line options were specified.
217 3 A fatal error occurred.
220
223 /proc/nnnnn/psinfo Process information files
224
227 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
228 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
233 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
234 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
235 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
236 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
237
239 kill(1), proc(1), ps(1), truss(1), kill(2), signal.h(3HEAD), proc(4),
240 attributes(5), privileges(5), regex(5), zones(5)
241
243 Both utilities match the ERE pattern argument against either the
244 pr_fname or pr_psargs fields of the /proc/nnnnn/psinfo files. The
245 lengths of these strings are limited according to definitions in
246 <sys/procfs.h>. Patterns which can match strings longer than the cur‐
247 rent limits may fail to match the intended set of processes.
248 If the pattern argument contains ERE meta-characters which are also
251 shell meta-characters, it may be necessary to enclose the pattern with
252 appropriate shell quotes.
253 Defunct processes are never matched by either pgrep or pkill.
256 The current pgrep or pkill process will never consider itself a poten‐
259 tial match.
260SunOS 5.11 6 May 2004 pgrep(1)