skill(1)

NAME

   skill, snice - send a signal or report process status

SYNOPSIS

   skill [signal] [options] expression
   snice [new priority] [options] expression

DESCRIPTION

   These  tools are obsolete and unportable.  The command syntax is poorly
   defined.   Consider  using  the  killall,  pkill,  and  pgrep  commands
   instead.

   The  default  signal for skill is TERM.  Use -l or -L to list available
   signals.  Particularly useful signals include  HUP,  INT,  KILL,  STOP,
   CONT,  and  0.   Alternate  signals  may be specified in three ways: -9
   -SIGKILL -KILL.

   The default priority for snice is +4.  Priority numbers range from  +20
   (slowest)  to  -20 (fastest).  Negative priority numbers are restricted
   to administrative users.

OPTIONS

   -f, --fast
          Fast mode.  This option has not been implemented.

   -i, --interactive
          Interactive use.  You will be asked to approve each action.

   -l, --list
          List all signal names.

   -L, --table
          List all signal names in a nice table.

   -n, --no-action
          No action; perform a simulation of events that would  occur  but
          do not actually change the system.

   -v, --verbose
          Verbose; explain what is being done.

   -w, --warnings
          Enable warnings.  This option has not been implemented.

   -h, --help
          Display help text and exit.

   -V, --version
          Display version information.

PROCESS SELECTION OPTIONS

   Selection  criteria  can be: terminal, user, pid, command.  The options
   below may be used to ensure correct interpretation.

   -t, --tty tty
          The next expression is a terminal (tty or pty).

   -u, --user user
          The next expression is a username.

   -p, --pid pid
          The next expression is a process ID number.

   -c, --command command
          The next expression is a command name.

   --ns pid
          Match the processes that belong to the same namespace as pid.

   --nslist ns,...
          list which namespaces will be considered for  the  --ns  option.
          Available namespaces: ipc, mnt, net, pid, user, uts.

SIGNALS

   The behavior of signals is explained in signal(7) manual page.

EXAMPLES

   snice -c seti -c crack +7
          Slow down seti and crack commands.

   skill -KILL -t /dev/pts/*
          Kill users on PTY devices.

   skill -STOP -u viro -u lm -u davem
          Stop three users.

SEE ALSO

   kill(1), kill(2), killall(1), nice(1), pkill(1), renice(1), signal(7)

STANDARDS

   No standards apply.

AUTHOR

   Albert Cahalan albert@users.sf.net wrote skill and snice in 1999 as a
   replacement for a non-free version.

REPORTING BUGS

   Please send bug reports to procps@freelists.org

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Free and Open Source Software