killall(1M)							   killall(1M)

NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     killall - kill named processes

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     killall [ [-]signal ]
     killall [ -gv ] [ -k secs ] [ [-]signal ] [ pname ...]
     killall [ -gv ] [ -k secs ] [ -signame ] [	pname ...]
     killall -l

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     killall sends a signal to a set of	processes or process groups specified
     by	pname(s).  It is similar to kill(1), except that it allows processes
     to	be specified by	name and has special options used by shutdown(1M).

     When no processes are specified, killall terminates all processes that
     are not in	the same process group as the caller.  This form is for	use in
     shutting down the system and is only available to the superuser.

     The options to killall are:

     signal, -signal
	       Specifies the signal number.  The minus (-) is required if
	       pname looks like	a signal number.  If no	signal value is
	       specified, a default of 9 (KILL)	is used.

     pname     When a process is specified with	pname, killall sends signal to
	       all processes matching that name.  This form is available to
	       all users provided that their user ID matches the real, saved,
	       or effective user ID of the receiving process.  The signal
	       number must be preceded by a minus (-) if pname looks like a
	       signal number.

     signame   A mnemonic name for the signal can be used; see the -l option.

     -g	       Causes the signal to be sent to the named processes' entire
	       process group.  In this form, the signal	number should be
	       preceded	by - in	order to disambiguate it from a	process	name.

     -k	secs   Allows the user to specify a maximum time to die	for a process.
	       With this option, an argument specifying	the maximum number of
	       seconds to wait for a process to	die is given.  If after
	       delivery	of the specified signal	(which defaults	to SIGTERM
	       when using the -k option), killall waits	for either the process
	       to die or for the time specified	by secs	to elapse.  If the
	       process does not	die in the allotted time, the process is sent
	       SIGKILL.

     -l	       Lists the signal	names (see kill(1) for more information	about
	       signal naming).	For example,






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killall(1M)							   killall(1M)



		   killall 16 myproc
		    killall -16	myproc
		    killall -USR1 myproc

	       are equivalent.

     -v	       Reports if the signal was successfully sent.

     killall can be quite useful for killing a process without knowing its
     process ID.  It can be used to stop a run-away user program without
     having to wait for	ps(1) to find its process ID.  It can be particularly
     useful in scripts,	because	it makes it unnecessary	to run the output of
     ps(1) through grep(1) and then through sed(1) or awk(1).

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /etc/shutdown

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     fuser(1M),	kill(1), ps(1),	shutdown(1M), signal(2).


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