xref: /freebsd/bin/kill/kill.1 (revision 3c61bbebc4166ca209b9becfd1529298bac6ed66)
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32.Dd October 3, 2016
33.Dt KILL 1
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm kill
37.Nd terminate or signal a process
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Nm
40.Op Fl s Ar signal_name
41.Ar pid ...
42.Nm
43.Fl l
44.Op Ar exit_status
45.Nm
46.Fl Ar signal_name
47.Ar pid ...
48.Nm
49.Fl Ar signal_number
50.Ar pid ...
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52The
53.Nm
54utility sends a signal to the processes specified by the
55.Ar pid
56operands.
57.Pp
58Only the super-user may send signals to other users' processes.
59.Pp
60The options are as follows:
61.Bl -tag -width indent
62.It Fl s Ar signal_name
63A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the
64default
65.Dv TERM .
66.It Fl l Op Ar exit_status
67If no operand is given, list the signal names; otherwise, write
68the signal name corresponding to
69.Ar exit_status .
70.It Fl Ar signal_name
71A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the
72default
73.Dv TERM .
74.It Fl Ar signal_number
75A non-negative decimal integer, specifying the signal to be sent instead
76of the default
77.Dv TERM .
78.El
79.Pp
80The following PIDs have special meanings:
81.Bl -tag -width indent
82.It 0
83The signal is sent to all processes whose group ID is equal to the process
84group ID of the sender, and for which the process has permission.
85.It -1
86If superuser, broadcast the signal to all processes; otherwise broadcast
87to all processes belonging to the user.
88.It - Ns Ar PGID
89The signal is sent to all processes that belong to the specified
90process group ID (PGID).
91.El
92.Pp
93Some of the more commonly used signals:
94.Pp
95.Bl -tag -width indent -compact
96.It 1
97HUP (hang up)
98.It 2
99INT (interrupt)
100.It 3
101QUIT (quit)
102.It 6
103ABRT (abort)
104.It 9
105KILL (non-catchable, non-ignorable kill)
106.It 14
107ALRM (alarm clock)
108.It 15
109TERM (software termination signal)
110.El
111.Pp
112Some shells may provide a builtin
113.Nm
114command which is similar or identical to this utility.
115Consult the
116.Xr builtin 1
117manual page.
118.Sh EXIT STATUS
119.Ex -std
120.Sh EXAMPLES
121Terminate
122the processes with PIDs 142 and 157:
123.Pp
124.Dl "kill 142 157"
125.Pp
126Send the hangup signal
127.Pq Dv SIGHUP
128to the process with PID 507:
129.Pp
130.Dl "kill -s HUP 507"
131.Pp
132Terminate the process group with PGID 117:
133.Pp
134.Dl "kill -- -117"
135.Sh SEE ALSO
136.Xr builtin 1 ,
137.Xr csh 1 ,
138.Xr killall 1 ,
139.Xr ps 1 ,
140.Xr sh 1 ,
141.Xr kill 2 ,
142.Xr sigaction 2
143.Sh STANDARDS
144The
145.Nm
146utility is expected to be
147.St -p1003.2
148compatible.
149.Sh HISTORY
150A
151.Nm
152command appeared in
153.At v3
154in section 8 of the manual.
155.Sh BUGS
156A replacement for the command
157.Dq Li kill 0
158for
159.Xr csh 1
160users should be provided.
161