KILL(1)

NAME
kill - terminate a process

SYNOPSIS
kill [-signal|-s signal] processid ...
kill -l [status]

DESCRIPTION
Kill sends signal 15 (terminate) to the specified processes. If a signal number or symbolic signal name preceded by `-' or -s is given as first argument, that signal is sent instead of terminate (see signal(2)). This will kill processes that do not catch the signal; in particular `kill -9 ...' is a sure kill.

By convention, if process number 0 is specified, all members in the process group (i.e. processes resulting from the current login) are signaled. If process number -1 is specified, all processes for which the user is permitted to send a signal are signaled. Otherwise if the process number is negative, it is treated as a process group id, and all processes in that group are signaled.

With the -l option, all available symbolic signal names are listed. If the status argument is present, the symbolic signal name corresponding to status, interpreted either as a signal number or as an exit value as given by the `$?' shell parameter, is printed.

A symbolic signal name consists of the name of the signal in the `C' language without the `SIG' prefix, e.g. `QUIT' for `SIGQUIT'.

The killed processes must belong to the current user unless he is the super-user.

The process number of an asynchronous process started with `&' is reported by the shell. Process numbers can also be found by using ps(1).

SEE ALSO
ps(1), kill(2), signal(2)