term% cat index.txt KILL(1) General Commands Manual KILL(1)
NAME
kill - terminate a process with extreme prejudice
SYNOPSIS
kill [ -sig ] processid ...
kill -l
DESCRIPTION
Kill sends the TERM (terminate, 15) signal to the specified processes.
If a signal name or number preceded by `-' is given as first argument,
that signal is sent instead of terminate (see signal(2)). The signal
names are listed by `kill -l', and are as given in /usr/include/sig‐
nal.h, stripped of the common SIG prefix.
The terminate signal will kill processes that do not catch the signal;
`kill -9 ...' is a sure kill, as the KILL signal (signal 9) cannot be
caught. By convention, if process number 0 is specified, all members
in the process group (i.e. processes resulting from the current login)
are signaled. The killed processes must belong to the current user un‐
less he is the super-user.
To shut the system down and bring it up single user the super-user may
send the initialization process a TERM (terminate) signal by `kill 1';
see init(8). To force init to close and open terminals according to
what is currently in /etc/ttys use `kill -1 1' (sending a hangup, sig‐
nal 1).
The process number of an asynchronous process started with `&' is re‐
ported by the shell and by ps(1).
SEE ALSO
ps(1), kill(2), signal(2)
KILL(1)