freebsd man page for timeout

TIMEOUT(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						TIMEOUT(1)

NAME
     timeout -- run a command with a time limit

SYNOPSIS
     timeout [--signal sig | -s sig] [--preserve-status] [--kill-after time | -k time] [--foreground] <duration> <command> <args ...>

DESCRIPTION
     timeout starts the command with its args. If command is still running after duration, it is killed.  By default, SIGTERM. is sent.

     --preserve-status		 Always exits with the same status as command even if it times out.

     --foreground		 Do not propagate timeout to the command children.

     -s sig, --signal sig	 Specify the signal to send on timeout.  By default, SIGTERM.  is sent.

     -k time, --kill-after time  Send a second kill signal if command is still running after time after the first signal was sent.

DURATION FORMAT
     duration and time can be integer or decimal numbers.  Values without unit symbols are interpreted as seconds.

     Supported unit symbols are:
     s	     seconds
     m	     minutes
     h	     hours
     d	     days

EXIT STATUS
     If the timeout was not reached, the exit status of command is returned.

     If the timeout was reached and --preserve-status is set, the exit status of command is returned.  If --preserve-status is not set, an exit
     status of 124 is returned.

     If command exits after receiving a signal, the exit status returned is the signal number plus 128.

     If command is an invalid command, the exit status returned is 126.

     If command is a non existing command, the exit status returned is 127.

     If an invalid parameter is passed to -s or -k, the exit status return is 125.

SEE ALSO
     kill(1), signal(3)

BSD
								   Oct 28, 2014 							       BSD