xref: /freebsd/bin/kill/kill.1 (revision 2008043f386721d58158e37e0d7e50df8095942d)
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32.\"	@(#)kill.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
33.\"
34.Dd October 3, 2016
35.Dt KILL 1
36.Os
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm kill
39.Nd terminate or signal a process
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Nm
42.Op Fl s Ar signal_name
43.Ar pid ...
44.Nm
45.Fl l
46.Op Ar exit_status
47.Nm
48.Fl Ar signal_name
49.Ar pid ...
50.Nm
51.Fl Ar signal_number
52.Ar pid ...
53.Sh DESCRIPTION
54The
55.Nm
56utility sends a signal to the processes specified by the
57.Ar pid
58operands.
59.Pp
60Only the super-user may send signals to other users' processes.
61.Pp
62The options are as follows:
63.Bl -tag -width indent
64.It Fl s Ar signal_name
65A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the
66default
67.Dv TERM .
68.It Fl l Op Ar exit_status
69If no operand is given, list the signal names; otherwise, write
70the signal name corresponding to
71.Ar exit_status .
72.It Fl Ar signal_name
73A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the
74default
75.Dv TERM .
76.It Fl Ar signal_number
77A non-negative decimal integer, specifying the signal to be sent instead
78of the default
79.Dv TERM .
80.El
81.Pp
82The following PIDs have special meanings:
83.Bl -tag -width indent
84.It -1
85If superuser, broadcast the signal to all processes; otherwise broadcast
86to all processes belonging to the user.
87.El
88.Pp
89Some of the more commonly used signals:
90.Pp
91.Bl -tag -width indent -compact
92.It 1
93HUP (hang up)
94.It 2
95INT (interrupt)
96.It 3
97QUIT (quit)
98.It 6
99ABRT (abort)
100.It 9
101KILL (non-catchable, non-ignorable kill)
102.It 14
103ALRM (alarm clock)
104.It 15
105TERM (software termination signal)
106.El
107.Pp
108Some shells may provide a builtin
109.Nm
110command which is similar or identical to this utility.
111Consult the
112.Xr builtin 1
113manual page.
114.Sh EXIT STATUS
115.Ex -std
116.Sh EXAMPLES
117Terminate
118the processes with PIDs 142 and 157:
119.Pp
120.Dl "kill 142 157"
121.Pp
122Send the hangup signal
123.Pq Dv SIGHUP
124to the process with PID 507:
125.Pp
126.Dl "kill -s HUP 507"
127.Pp
128Terminate the process group with PGID 117:
129.Pp
130.Dl "kill -- -117"
131.Sh SEE ALSO
132.Xr builtin 1 ,
133.Xr csh 1 ,
134.Xr killall 1 ,
135.Xr ps 1 ,
136.Xr sh 1 ,
137.Xr kill 2 ,
138.Xr sigaction 2
139.Sh STANDARDS
140The
141.Nm
142utility is expected to be
143.St -p1003.2
144compatible.
145.Sh HISTORY
146A
147.Nm
148command appeared in
149.At v3
150in section 8 of the manual.
151.Sh BUGS
152A replacement for the command
153.Dq Li kill 0
154for
155.Xr csh 1
156users should be provided.
157