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ps kill

UNIX Commands

ps command

The command to display processes depends on which of the various branches of Unix

ps -af
ps -ef

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kill command

The kill command can be used to send a "signal" code to a process. As the command name implies, this is most often used to cause the process to end.

kill pid​
kill -s TERM pid​
kill -15 pid​

kill -s KILL pid​
kill -9 pid​

Signal number 15 (SIGTERM) is the "terminate" signal, which attempts to cause the process to end gracefully. Signal number 9 (SIGKILL) is the "kill" signal, which causes the process to be terminated immediately.

Some of the more commonly used signal numbers and names are:

1 HUP SIGHUP hang up
2 INT SIGINT interrupt
3 QUIT SIGQUIT quit
6 ABRT SIGABRT abort
7 STOP SIGSTOP stop
9 KILL SIGKILL kill
15 TERM SIGTERM terminate

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Last updated Monday April 16, 2007

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UNIX Commands

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