NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     pgrep, pkill - find or signal processes by name

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     pgrep [-flnvx] [-G gid] [-P ppid] [-U uid]  [-d  delim]  [-g
pgrp] [-s sid]
           [-t tty] [-u euid] [pattern [...]]
     pkill  [-signal]  [-fnvx]  [-G  gid]  [-P ppid] [-U uid] [-g
pgrp] [-s sid]
           [-t tty] [-u euid] [pattern [...]]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The pgrep command searches the process table on the  running
system and
     prints  the process IDs of all processes that match the criteria given on
     the command line.

     The pkill command searches the process table on the  running
system and
     signals  all  processes that match the criteria given on the
command line.

     The following options are available:

     -G gid    Restrict matches to processes with a real group ID
in the comma-separated
 list gid.

     -P  ppid    Restrict matches to processes with a parent process ID in the
               comma-separated list ppid.

     -U uid    Restrict matches to processes with a real user  ID
in the commaseparated
 list uid.

     -d  delim   Specify  a  delimiter to be printed between each
process ID.  The
               default is a newline.  This  option  can  only  be
used with the
               pgrep command.

     -f        Match against full argument lists.  The default is
to match
               against process names.

     -g pgrp   Restrict matches to processes with a process group
ID in the
               comma-separated list pgrp.  The value zero is taken to mean the
               process group ID of the  running  pgrep  or  pkill
command.

     -l         Long  output.  Print the process name in addition
to the process
               ID for each matching process.  If used in conjunction with -f,
               print  the  process  ID and the full argument list
for each matching
 process.  This option can only  be  used  with
the pgrep command.


     -n         Match  only the most recently created process, if
any.

     -s sid    Restrict matches to processes with a session ID in
the commaseparated
  list  sid.   The value zero is taken to
mean the session
 ID of the running pgrep or pkill command.

     -t tty    Restrict matches to processes  associated  with  a
terminal in the
               comma-separated  list  tty.  Terminal names may be
of the form
               `ttyxx' or the shortened form `xx'.  A single dash
(`-') matches
 processes not associated with a terminal.

     -u  euid    Restrict  matches to processes with an effective
user ID in the
               comma-separated list euid.

     -v        Reverse the sense of the  matching;  display  processes that do
               not match the given criteria.

     -x        Require an exact match of the process name, or argument list if
               -f is given.  The default is  to  match  any  substring.

     -signal    A  non-negative decimal number or symbolic signal
name specifying
 the signal to be sent instead of  the  default
TERM.  This
               option is valid only when given as the first argument to pkill.

     Note that a running pgrep or pkill process will  never  consider itself nor
     system processes (kernel threads) as a potential match.

EXIT STATUS    [Toc]    [Back]

     pgrep  and pkill return one of the following values upon exit:

     0    One or more processes were matched.

     1    No processes were matched.

     2    Invalid options were specified on the command line.

     3    An internal error occurred.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     kill(1), ps(1), kill(2), sigaction(2), re_format(7)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     pkill and pgrep first appeared in  OpenBSD  3.5.   They  are
modelled after
     utilities of the same name that appeared in Sun Solaris 7.

AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Andrew Doran <[email protected]>.

OpenBSD      3.6                           March      1,     2002