xref: /freebsd/bin/kill/kill.1 (revision f39bffc62c1395bde25d152c7f68fdf7cbaab414)
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32.\"	@(#)kill.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd October 3, 2016
36.Dt KILL 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm kill
40.Nd terminate or signal a process
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl s Ar signal_name
44.Ar pid ...
45.Nm
46.Fl l
47.Op Ar exit_status
48.Nm
49.Fl Ar signal_name
50.Ar pid ...
51.Nm
52.Fl Ar signal_number
53.Ar pid ...
54.Sh DESCRIPTION
55The
56.Nm
57utility sends a signal to the processes specified by the
58.Ar pid
59operands.
60.Pp
61Only the super-user may send signals to other users' processes.
62.Pp
63The options are as follows:
64.Bl -tag -width indent
65.It Fl s Ar signal_name
66A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the
67default
68.Dv TERM .
69.It Fl l Op Ar exit_status
70If no operand is given, list the signal names; otherwise, write
71the signal name corresponding to
72.Ar exit_status .
73.It Fl Ar signal_name
74A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the
75default
76.Dv TERM .
77.It Fl Ar signal_number
78A non-negative decimal integer, specifying the signal to be sent instead
79of the default
80.Dv TERM .
81.El
82.Pp
83The following PIDs have special meanings:
84.Bl -tag -width indent
85.It -1
86If superuser, broadcast the signal to all processes; otherwise broadcast
87to all processes belonging to the user.
88.El
89.Pp
90Some of the more commonly used signals:
91.Pp
92.Bl -tag -width indent -compact
93.It 1
94HUP (hang up)
95.It 2
96INT (interrupt)
97.It 3
98QUIT (quit)
99.It 6
100ABRT (abort)
101.It 9
102KILL (non-catchable, non-ignorable kill)
103.It 14
104ALRM (alarm clock)
105.It 15
106TERM (software termination signal)
107.El
108.Pp
109Some shells may provide a builtin
110.Nm
111command which is similar or identical to this utility.
112Consult the
113.Xr builtin 1
114manual page.
115.Sh EXIT STATUS
116.Ex -std
117.Sh EXAMPLES
118Terminate
119the processes with PIDs 142 and 157:
120.Pp
121.Dl "kill 142 157"
122.Pp
123Send the hangup signal
124.Pq Dv SIGHUP
125to the process with PID 507:
126.Pp
127.Dl "kill -s HUP 507"
128.Pp
129Terminate the process group with PGID 117:
130.Pp
131.Dl "kill -- -117"
132.Sh SEE ALSO
133.Xr builtin 1 ,
134.Xr csh 1 ,
135.Xr killall 1 ,
136.Xr ps 1 ,
137.Xr sh 1 ,
138.Xr kill 2 ,
139.Xr sigaction 2
140.Sh STANDARDS
141The
142.Nm
143utility is expected to be
144.St -p1003.2
145compatible.
146.Sh HISTORY
147A
148.Nm
149command appeared in
150.At v3
151in section 8 of the manual.
152.Sh BUGS
153A replacement for the command
154.Dq Li kill 0
155for
156.Xr csh 1
157users should be provided.
158