xref: /freebsd/bin/kill/kill.1 (revision f5cf173de0dc62dbf47a8bbdcae28aac947d90a6)
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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.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