NAME

kill − terminate a process

SYNOPSIS

kill [ −signo ] PID ... 

DESCRIPTION

Kill sends signal 15 (terminate) to the specified processes.  This will normally kill processes that do not catch or ignore the signal.  The process number of each asynchronous process started with & is reported by the Shell (unless more than one process is started in a pipeline, in which case the number of the last process in the pipeline is reported).  Process numbers can also be found by using ps(1).

The details of the kill are described in kill(2). For example, if process number 0 is specified, all processes in the process group are signaled.

The killed process must belong to the current user unless he is the super-user. 

If a signal number preceded by − is given as first argument, that signal is sent instead of terminate (see signal(2)). In particular “kill −9 ...” is a sure kill.

EXAMPLES

The command:

kill 6135

signals process number 6135 to terminate (assuming you own the process).  This gives the process a chance to exit gracefully (removing temporary files, etc.). 

The command:

kill -9 6135

terminates process number 6135 by sending a SIGKILL signal to the process (assuming you own the process).  This tells the kernel to remove the process immediately. 

SEE ALSO

ps(1), sh(1), kill(2), signal(2). 

BUGS

If a process becomes hung during some operation (such as I/O) so that it is never scheduled, that process will not die until it is allowed to run.  Thus, such a process may never go away after the kill. 

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  May 11, 2021