4BSD/usr/man/cat1/kill.1

KILL(1)             UNIX Programmer's Manual              KILL(1)



NAME
     kill - terminate a process with extreme prejudice

SYNOPSIS
     kill [ -sig ] processid ...
     kill -l

DESCRIPTION
     _K_i_l_l 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 ter-
     minate (see _s_i_g_n_a_l(2)).  The signal names are listed by
     `kill -l', and are as given in /_u_s_r/_i_n_c_l_u_d_e/_s_i_g_n_a_l._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 (9)
     signal 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
     (but beware: this works only if you use _s_h(1); not if you
     use _c_s_h(1).) The killed processes must belong to the current
     user unless 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 (ter-
     minate) signal by `kill 1'; see _i_n_i_t(8).  To force _i_n_i_t to
     close and open terminals according to what is currently in
     /etc/ttys use `kill -HUP 1' (sending a hangup, signal 1).

     The process number of an asynchronous process started with
     `&' is reported by the shell.  Process numbers can also be
     found by using _K_i_l_l is a built-in to _c_s_h(1); it allows job
     specifiers ``%...'' so process id's are not as often used as
     _k_i_l_l arguments.  See _c_s_h(1) for details.

SEE ALSO
     csh(1), ps(1), kill(2), signal(2)

BUGS
     An option to kill process groups ala _k_i_l_l_p_g(2) should be
     provided; a replacement for ``kill 0'' for _c_s_h(1) users
     should be provided.












Printed 11/10/80                                                1