NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     wait - await process completion

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     wait [pid]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     If invoked with no arguments, the wait utility  waits  until
all existing
     child processes in the background have terminated.

     Available operands:

     pid     If a pid operand is specified, and it is the process
ID of a
             background child process that still exists, the wait
utility
             waits  until that process has completed and consumes
its status
             information, without consuming the  status  information of any other
 process.

             If  a  pid operand is specified that is not the process ID of a
             child background process that still exists, wait exits without
             waiting for any processes to complete.

     The wait utility exits with one of the following values:

     0        The  wait  utility was invoked with no operands and
all of the existing
 background child processes  have  terminated,
or the process
             specified  by the pid operand exited normally with 0
as its exit
             status.

     >0      The specified process did not  exist  and  its  exit
status information
  was not available, or its exit status information was available
 and it terminated with a non-zero exit  status.

     If  the  specified  process terminated abnormally due to the
receipt of a
     signal, the exit status information of  wait  contains  that
termination
     status as well.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     wait(2)

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The   wait  command  is  expected  to  be  IEEE  Std  1003.2
(``POSIX.2'') compatible.


OpenBSD      3.6                           June      5,      1993