UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

to kill a program in bash, for instance 'mousepad' I use

Code:

kill $(pidof mousepad);

or

Code:

pkill mousepad

But it only works if we use another bash window;

If it is started from the same bash, that does not work:

Code:

#mousepad;kill $(pidof mousepad);

In this case, it looks like mousepad hangs and the second command (kill $(pidof mousepad) cannot be executed.

So if I need to write a bash program which starts a program, run some routines and kill that program how do I do?

Thanks a lot guys!

You could try running mousepad in the background:

Code:

mousepad &

thanx in2nix4life
I have already tried that:

Code:

mousepad&;pkill mousepad
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `;'

So you're trying to start mousepad and then immediately kill it? Please provide more detail on what you're trying to accomplish.

You have a child process. If you check the pid of your current process

Code:

echo $$

BEFORE the command, then check

Code:

ps -ef | grep mousepad

AFTER the

Code:

mousepad &

command to get the pid of the child process then you can see what is happening.

Do you know about job commands in bash and how kill works on them?
fg and bg and jobs are your friends here. Plus, mousepad may run setuid as an independent daemon - I know nothing about it. Which means it may run as root and you cannot kill it.

Lose mousepad, and try something simple like

Code:

sleep 10 &

for testing.

I found what was the problem;

Running:

Code:

/usr/bin/mousepad &sleep 3;pkill mousepad

works. I put 'sleep 3' for testing purpose; we can put whatever command we want.

thanx guys!

---------- Post updated at 02:11 PM ---------- Previous update was at 02:09 PM ----------

If you started the background process from your script, you can kill it using the job number.