NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

       sleep - Suspends execution for at least the specified time

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

       sleep seconds

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

       Interfaces documented on this reference  page  conform  to
       industry standards as follows:

       sleep:  XCU5.0

       Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information
 about industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS    [Toc]    [Back]

       None

OPERANDS    [Toc]    [Back]

       Non-negative integer specifying the number of seconds  for
       which execution is to be suspended.

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

       The  sleep  command suspends execution of a process for at
       least the interval specified by seconds, which  can  range
       from  0  to  2,147,483,647  seconds.   Depending on system
       activity, the actual time of  suspension  may  be  longer.
       See the sleep(3) reference page.

       [Tru64  UNIX]  seconds  can  be  entered as a non-negative
       decimal, octal, or hexadecimal value.

NOTES    [Toc]    [Back]

       If sleep receives a SIGALARM signal before process  execution
  has  resumed,  sleep  takes  one  of  the  following
       actions: Terminates normally with a 0 (zero) exit  status.
       (See  the  sleep(3)  reference page for more information.)
       Ignores the signal Performs default processing

EXIT STATUS    [Toc]    [Back]

       The following exit values are returned: Execution was successfully
  suspended for at least the requested time, or a
       SIGALARM signal was received.  An error occurred.

EXAMPLES    [Toc]    [Back]

       To display a message at 4-minute intervals for 20 minutes,
       create a shell script called remind containing the following:


              for i do sleep 240; echo  $i  sleep  240;  echo  $i
              sleep  240;  echo  $i sleep 240; echo $i sleep 240;
              echo $i done

              To display the message Try calling NHK at  4-minute
              intervals, enter: remind 'Try calling NHK' To run a
              command at regular intervals, create a shell script
              containing the following:

              while true do
                      date
                      sleep 60 done

              This  displays the date and time once a minute.  To
              execute a command after a specified interval, enter
              the following; (sleep 3600; echo Time\'s up) &

              This  displays  the  message  "Time's up" after one
              hour.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES    [Toc]    [Back]

       The following environment variables affect  the  execution
       of  sleep: Provides a default value for the internationalization
 variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset
       or  null,  the corresponding value from the default locale
       is used.  If any  of  the  internationalization  variables
       contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none
       of the variables had been defined.  If set to a  non-empty
       string value, overrides the values of all the other internationalization
 variables.  Determines the locale for  the
       interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters
 (for example, single-byte as opposed  to  multibyte
       characters  in  arguments).  Determines the locale for the
       format and contents  of  diagnostic  messages  written  to
       standard  error.  Determines the location of message catalogues
 for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

       Commands:  wait(1)

       Functions:  alarm(3), pause(3), sigaction(2), sleep(3)

       Standards:  standards(5)



                                                         sleep(1)