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.

EXAMPLE

kill 24068

stops the process with the ID number 24068. 

SEE ALSO

ps(1), sh(1), kill(2), signal(2). 

Version 2.5r1  —  October 29, 1986