kill(1) [osx man page]
KILL(1) BSD General Commands Manual KILL(1) NAME
kill -- terminate or signal a process SYNOPSIS
kill [-s signal_name] pid ... kill -l [exit_status] kill -signal_name pid ... kill -signal_number pid ... DESCRIPTION
The kill utility sends a signal to the processes specified by the pid operand(s). Only the super-user may send signals to other users' processes. The options are as follows: -s signal_name A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default TERM. -l [exit_status] If no operand is given, list the signal names; otherwise, write the signal name corresponding to exit_status. -signal_name A symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default TERM. -signal_number A non-negative decimal integer, specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default TERM. The following pids have special meanings: -1 If superuser, broadcast the signal to all processes; otherwise broadcast to all processes belonging to the user. Some of the more commonly used signals: 1 HUP (hang up) 2 INT (interrupt) 3 QUIT (quit) 6 ABRT (abort) 9 KILL (non-catchable, non-ignorable kill) 14 ALRM (alarm clock) 15 TERM (software termination signal) Some shells may provide a builtin kill command which is similar or identical to this utility. Consult the builtin(1) manual page. SEE ALSO
builtin(1), csh(1), killall(1), ps(1), kill(2), sigaction(2) STANDARDS
The kill function is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'') compatible. HISTORY
A kill command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. BUGS
A replacement for the command ``kill 0'' for csh(1) users should be provided. BSD
April 28, 1995 BSD
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KILL(1) Linux Programmer's Manual KILL(1) NAME
kill - terminate a process SYNOPSIS
kill [ -s signal | -p ] [ -a ] [ -- ] pid ... kill -l [ signal ] DESCRIPTION
The command kill sends the specified signal to the specified process or process group. If no signal is specified, the TERM signal is sent. The TERM signal will kill processes which do not catch this signal. For other processes, it may be necessary to use the KILL (9) signal, since this signal cannot be caught. Most modern shells have a builtin kill function, with a usage rather similar to that of the command described here. The `-a' and `-p' options, and the possibility to specify pids by command name is a local extension. OPTIONS
pid... Specify the list of processes that kill should signal. Each pid can be one of five things: n where n is larger than 0. The process with pid n will be signaled. 0 All processes in the current process group are signaled. -1 All processes with pid larger than 1 will be signaled. -n where n is larger than 1. All processes in process group n are signaled. When an argument of the form `-n' is given, and it is meant to denote a process group, either the signal must be specified first, or the argument must be preceded by a `--' option, otherwise it will be taken as the signal to send. commandname All processes invoked using that name will be signaled. -s signal Specify the signal to send. The signal may be given as a signal name or number. -l Print a list of signal names. These are found in /usr/include/linux/signal.h -a Do not restrict the commandname-to-pid conversion to processes with the same uid as the present process. -p Specify that kill should only print the process id (pid) of the named processes, and not send any signals. SEE ALSO
bash(1), tcsh(1), kill(2), sigvec(2), signal(7) AUTHOR
Taken from BSD 4.4. The ability to translate process names to process ids was added by Salvatore Valente <svalente@mit.edu>. Linux Utilities 14 October 1994 KILL(1)