xref: /freebsd/bin/kill/kill.1 (revision d37eb51047221dc3322b34db1038ff3aa533883f)
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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 -1
83If superuser, broadcast the signal to all processes; otherwise broadcast
84to all processes belonging to the user.
85.El
86.Pp
87Some of the more commonly used signals:
88.Pp
89.Bl -tag -width indent -compact
90.It 1
91HUP (hang up)
92.It 2
93INT (interrupt)
94.It 3
95QUIT (quit)
96.It 6
97ABRT (abort)
98.It 9
99KILL (non-catchable, non-ignorable kill)
100.It 14
101ALRM (alarm clock)
102.It 15
103TERM (software termination signal)
104.El
105.Pp
106Some shells may provide a builtin
107.Nm
108command which is similar or identical to this utility.
109Consult the
110.Xr builtin 1
111manual page.
112.Sh EXIT STATUS
113.Ex -std
114.Sh EXAMPLES
115Terminate
116the processes with PIDs 142 and 157:
117.Pp
118.Dl "kill 142 157"
119.Pp
120Send the hangup signal
121.Pq Dv SIGHUP
122to the process with PID 507:
123.Pp
124.Dl "kill -s HUP 507"
125.Pp
126Terminate the process group with PGID 117:
127.Pp
128.Dl "kill -- -117"
129.Sh SEE ALSO
130.Xr builtin 1 ,
131.Xr csh 1 ,
132.Xr killall 1 ,
133.Xr ps 1 ,
134.Xr sh 1 ,
135.Xr kill 2 ,
136.Xr sigaction 2
137.Sh STANDARDS
138The
139.Nm
140utility is expected to be
141.St -p1003.2
142compatible.
143.Sh HISTORY
144A
145.Nm
146command appeared in
147.At v3
148in section 8 of the manual.
149.Sh BUGS
150A replacement for the command
151.Dq Li kill 0
152for
153.Xr csh 1
154users should be provided.
155