getting the pid from the csh

[Rob Warnock]

+---------------
| ss at wanginst.UUCP (Sid Shapiro) writes:
| > So I cheerfully set off to try and figure out how to capture the pid
| > that is returned when you type foo&
| In sh, on the other hand, you need only type:	(foo&) 2>foo.pid
| Mark Brader
+---------------

In the Bourne Shell (either Edition 7 or 4.1bsd) the (parent) shell
variable "$!" contains the process number of the last background
process evoked. You don't need to write it into a file. Try:

	$ foo &
	$ ...		# anything but another background invocation
	$ echo $!

It works as documented. See "sh(1)".


Rob Warnock
Systems Architecture Consultant

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