KILL

Section: Linux User's Manual (1)
Updated: November 21, 1999

NAME

kill - send a signal to a process

SYNOPSIS

kill [ -signal | -s signal ] pid ...
kill [ -L | -V, --version ]
kill -l [ signal ]

DESCRIPTION

The default signal for kill is TERM. Use -l or -L to list available signals. Particularly useful signals include HUP, INT, KILL, STOP, CONT, and 0. Alternate signals may be specified in three ways: -9 -SIGKILL -KILL. Negative PID values may be used to choose whole process groups; see the PGID column in ps command output. A PID of -1 is special; it indicates all processes except the kill process itself and init.

SIGNALS

The signals listed below may be available for use with kill. When known constant, numbers and default behavior are shown.

Name Num Action Description

0 0 n/a exit code indicates if a signal may be sent

ALRM 14 exit

HUP 1 exit

INT 2 exit

KILL 9 exit cannot be blocked

PIPE 13 exit

POLL exit

PROF exit

TERM 15 exit

USR1 exit

USR2 exit

VTALRM exit

STKFLT exit might not be implemented

PWR ignore might exit on some systems

WINCH ignore

CHLD ignore

URG ignore

TSTP stop might interact with the shell

TTIN stop might interact with the shell

TTOU stop might interact with the shell

STOP stop cannot be blocked

CONT restart continue if stopped, otherwise ignore

ABRT 6 core

FPE 8 core

ILL 4 core

QUIT 3 core

SEGV 11 core

TRAP 5 core

SYS core might not be implemented

EMT core might not be implemented

BUS core core dump might fail

XCPU core core dump might fail

XFSZ core core dump might fail

NOTES

Your shell (command line interpreter) may have a built-in kill command. You may need to run the command described here as /bin/kill to solve the conflict.

EXAMPLES

kill -9 -1: Kill all processes you can kill.
kill -l 11: Translate number 11 into a signal name.
kill -L: List the available signal choices in a nice table.
kill 123 543 2341 3453: Send the default signal, SIGTERM, to all those processes.

STANDARDS

This command meets appropriate standards. The -L flag is Linux-specific.

AUTHOR

Albert Cahalan <albert@users.sf.net> wrote kill in 1999 to replace a bsdutils one that was not standards compliant. The util-linux one might also work correctly.

Please send bug reports to <procps-feedback@lists.sf.net>

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 07:35:55 GMT, March 26, 2013

Name	Num	Action	Description
0	0	n/a	exit code indicates if a signal may be sent
ALRM	14	exit
HUP	1	exit
INT	2	exit
KILL	9	exit	cannot be blocked
PIPE	13	exit
POLL		exit
PROF		exit
TERM	15	exit
USR1		exit
USR2		exit
VTALRM		exit
STKFLT		exit	might not be implemented
PWR		ignore	might exit on some systems
WINCH		ignore
CHLD		ignore
URG		ignore
TSTP		stop	might interact with the shell
TTIN		stop	might interact with the shell
TTOU		stop	might interact with the shell
STOP		stop	cannot be blocked
CONT		restart	continue if stopped, otherwise ignore
ABRT	6	core
FPE	8	core
ILL	4	core
QUIT	3	core
SEGV	11	core
TRAP	5	core
SYS		core	might not be implemented
EMT		core	might not be implemented
BUS		core	core dump might fail
XCPU		core	core dump might fail
XFSZ		core	core dump might fail