pkill

<h2 id="example-usage">Example usage</h2>
<p>Kill the most recently created acroread process:
</p>
pkill -n acroread

<p>Send a <a href="/facts/SIGUSR1_and_SIGUSR2/IN6VK6r8">USR1</a> signal to acroread process:
</p>
pkill -USR1 acroread

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
<li>Free and open-source software portal</li></ul>
<p>Some other unix commands related to process management and killing include:
</p>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Kill_(Unix)/PjqmLTUR">kill</a>, which sends signals processes by <a href="/facts/Process_identifier/q9TlqHEP">process ID</a> instead of by pattern-matching against the name.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Nice_(Unix)/TRfCer6a">renice</a>, which changes the priority of a process.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Top_(software)/QDeL7v2T">top</a> and <a href="/facts/Htop/wS74V9Mm">htop</a>, which display a list of processes and their resource usage; htop can send signals to processes directly from this list.</li>
<li>skill, a command-line utility to send signals or report process status. pkill is favoured over it.</li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E88353_01/html/E37839/pkill-1.html">pkill(1)</a> – <a href="/facts/Solaris_(operating_system)/KPfT98EJ">Solaris 11.4</a> User Commands Reference <a href="/facts/Man_page/S2yYjy0J">Manual</a></li>
<li><a href="https://linux.die.net/man/1/pkill">pkill(1)</a>: look up processes based on name and other attributes – <a href="/facts/Linux/9FvCKSTq">Linux</a> User Commands <a href="/facts/Man_page/S2yYjy0J">Manual</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/816-5165/pkill-1/index.html">Oracle: Man pages pgrep, pkill</a></li>
<li><a href="http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19120-01/open.solaris/819-2380/spprocess-95930/index.html">Oracle: How to terminate a process (pkill)</a></li></ul>

pkill open-in-new

pkill