.\"- .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by .\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)kill.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 4/28/95 .\" $FreeBSD: head/bin/kill/kill.1 216629 2010-12-21 22:47:34Z jilles $ .\" .Dd April 28, 1995 .Dt KILL 1 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm kill .Nd terminate or signal a process .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl s Ar signal_name .Ar pid ... .Nm .Fl l .Op Ar exit_status .Nm .Fl Ar signal_name .Ar pid ... .Nm .Fl Ar signal_number .Ar pid ... .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm utility sends a signal to the processes specified by the .Ar pid operands. .Pp Only the super-user may send signals to other users' processes. .Pp The options are as follows: .Bl -tag -width indent .It Fl s Ar signal_name A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default .Dv TERM . .It Fl l Op Ar exit_status If no operand is given, list the signal names; otherwise, write the signal name corresponding to .Ar exit_status . .It Fl Ar signal_name A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default .Dv TERM . .It Fl Ar signal_number A non-negative decimal integer, specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default .Dv TERM . .El .Pp The following PIDs have special meanings: .Bl -tag -width indent .It -1 If superuser, broadcast the signal to all processes; otherwise broadcast to all processes belonging to the user. .El .Pp Some of the more commonly used signals: .Pp .Bl -tag -width indent -compact .It 1 HUP (hang up) .It 2 INT (interrupt) .It 3 QUIT (quit) .It 6 ABRT (abort) .It 9 KILL (non-catchable, non-ignorable kill) .It 14 ALRM (alarm clock) .It 15 TERM (software termination signal) .El .Pp Some shells may provide a builtin .Nm command which is similar or identical to this utility. Consult the .Xr builtin 1 manual page. .Sh EXIT STATUS .Ex -std .Sh EXAMPLES Terminate the processes with PIDs 142 and 157: .Pp .Dl "kill 142 157" .Pp Send the hangup signal .Pq Dv SIGHUP to the process with PID 507: .Pp .Dl "kill -s HUP 507" .Pp Terminate the process group with PGID 117: .Pp .Dl "kill -- -117" .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr builtin 1 , .Xr csh 1 , .Xr killall 1 , .Xr ps 1 , .Xr sh 1 , .Xr kill 2 , .Xr sigaction 2 .Sh STANDARDS The .Nm utility is expected to be .St -p1003.2 compatible. .Sh HISTORY A .Nm command appeared in .At v3 . .Sh BUGS A replacement for the command .Dq Li kill 0 for .Xr csh 1 users should be provided.