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kill(1)				 User Commands			       kill(1)

NAME
       kill - terminate or signal processes

SYNOPSIS
       /usr/bin/kill -s signal_name pid...

       /usr/bin/kill -l [exit_status]

       /usr/bin/kill [-signal_name] pid...

       /usr/bin/kill [-signal_number] pid...

DESCRIPTION
       The  kill  utility sends a signal to the process or processes specified
       by each pid operand.

       For each pid operand, the kill utility will perform actions  equivalent
       to the kill(2) function called with the following arguments:

       1.  The value of the pid operand will be used as the pid argument.

       2.  The sig argument is the value specified by the -s option, the -sig‐
	   nal_name option, or the -signal_number option, or, if none of these
	   options is specified, by SIGTERM.

       The signaled process must belong to the current user unless the user is
       the super-user.

       See NOTES for descriptions of the shell built-in versions of kill.

OPTIONS
       The following options are supported:

       -l	       (The letter ell.) Writes all values of signal_name sup‐
		       ported  by  the implementation, if no operand is given.
		       If an exit_status operand is given and it is a value of
		       the ? shell special parameter and wait corresponding to
		       a process that was terminated by	 a  signal,  the  sig‐
		       nal_name	 corresponding	to  the signal that terminated
		       the process will be written. If an exit_status  operand
		       is  given  and it is the unsigned decimal integer value
		       of a signal number, the	signal_name  corresponding  to
		       that signal will be written. Otherwise, the results are
		       unspecified.

       -s signal_name  Specifies the signal to send, using one of the symbolic
		       names  defined in the <signal.h> description. Values of
		       signal_name will be recognized  in  a  case-independent
		       fashion,	 without the SIG prefix. In addition, the sym‐
		       bolic name 0 will be recognized, representing the  sig‐
		       nal  value  zero. The corresponding signal will be sent
		       instead of SIGTERM.

       -signal_name    Equivalent to -s signal_name.

       -signal_number  Specifies a non-negative decimal	 integer,  signal_num‐
		       ber,  representing  the	signal	to  be used instead of
		       SIGTERM, as the sig argument in	  the  effective  call
		       to kill(2).

OPERANDS
       The following operands are supported:

       pid	       One of the following:

			   1.  A  decimal  integer  specifying	a  process  or
			       process group to be signaled.  The  process  or
			       processes  selected  by	positive, negative and
			       zero values of  the  pid	 operand  will	be  as
			       described  for  the  kill  function. If process
			       number 0 is specified,  all  processes  in  the
			       process	group  are  signaled. If the first pid
			       operand is negative, it should be  preceded  by
			       −−  to  keep  it	 from  being interpreted as an
			       option.

			   2.  A job control job ID that  identifies  a	 back‐
			       ground  process	group  to be signaled. The job
			       control job ID notation is applicable only  for
			       invocations of kill in the current shell execu‐
			       tion environment.

		       Note: The job control job ID type of pid	 is  available
		       only on systems supporting the job control option.

       exit_status     A  decimal  integer  specifying	a signal number or the
		       exit status of a process terminated by a signal.

USAGE
       Process numbers can be found by using ps(1).

       The job control job ID notation is not required	to  work  as  expected
       when  kill  is  operating  in its own utility execution environment. In
       either of the following examples:

       example% nohup kill %1 &
       example% system( "kill %1");

       kill operates in a different environment and will not share the shell's
       understanding of job numbers.

OUTPUT
       When  the  -l  option is not specified, the standard output will not be
       used.

       When the -l option is specified, the symbolic name of each signal  will
       be written in the following format:

       "%s%c", <signal_name>, <separator>

       where  the  <signal_name> is in upper-case, without the SIG prefix, and
       the <separator> will be either a newline character or a	space  charac‐
       ter. For the last signal written, <separator> will be a newline charac‐
       ter.

       When both the -l option and exit_status operand are specified, the sym‐
       bolic name of the corresponding signal will be written in the following
       format:

       "%s\n", <signal_name>

EXAMPLES
       Example 1: Sending the kill signal

       Any of the commands:

       example% kill -9 100 -165
       example% kill -s kill 100 -165
       example% kill -s KILL 100 -165

       sends the SIGKILL signal to the process whose process ID is 100 and  to
       all  processes  whose  process  group  ID  is 165, assuming the sending
       process has permission to send that signal to the specified  processes,
       and that they exist.

       Example 2: Avoiding ambiguity with an initial negative number

       To avoid an ambiguity of an initial negative number argument specifying
       either a signal number or a process group, the former  will  always  be
       the case. Therefore, to send the default signal to a process group (for
       example, 123), an application should use a command similar  to  one  of
       the following:

       example% kill -TERM -123
       example% kill -- -123

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       See  environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
       that affect the execution of kill: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES,
       and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values are returned:

       0	At  least one matching process was found for each pid operand,
		and the specified signal was  successfully  processed  for  at
		least one matching process.

       >0	An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
       │      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     │	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   │
       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
       │Availability		     │SUNWcsu			   │
       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
       │CSI			     │enabled			   │
       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
       │Interface Stability	     │Standard			   │
       └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘

SEE ALSO
       csh(1),	jobs(1),  ksh(1),  ps(1),  sh(1),  shell_builtins(1), wait(1),
       kill(2), signal(3C), signal.h(3HEAD), attributes(5), environ(5),	 stan‐
       dards(5)

NOTES
   sh
       The  Bourne  shell,  sh,	 has a built-in version of kill to provide the
       functionality of the kill  command  for	processes  identified  with  a
       jobid. The sh  syntax is:

       kill [ -sig ] [ pid ] [ %job ]...
       kill -l

   csh
       The C-shell, csh, also has a built-in kill command, whose syntax is:

       kill [-sig][pid][%job]...
       kill -l

       The csh kill built-in sends the TERM (terminate) signal, by default, or
       the signal specified, to the specified process ID, the  job  indicated,
       or  the	current	 job.  Signals	are either given by number or by name.
       There is no default. Typing kill does not send a signal to the  current
       job. If the signal being sent is TERM (terminate) or HUP (hangup), then
       the job or process is sent a CONT (continue) signal as well.

       -l	Lists the signal names that can be sent.

   ksh
       The syntax of the ksh kill is:

       kill [-sig][pid][%job]...
       kill -l

       The ksh kill sends either the TERM (terminate) signal or the  specified
       signal  to the specified jobs or processes. Signals are either given by
       number or by names (as given in signal.h(3HEAD)	stripped  of  the  SIG
       prefix).	 If the signal being sent is TERM (terminate) or HUP (hangup),
       then the job or process will be sent a CONT (continue) signal if it  is
       stopped.	 The  argument	job can be the process id of a process that is
       not a member of one of the active jobs. In the second  form,  kill  -l,
       the signal numbers and names are listed.

SunOS 5.10			  2 Oct 2001			       kill(1)
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