{{Short description|Command-line utility for signaling processes}} {{Lowercase title}} {{Infobox software | name = pkill | logo = | screenshot = | screenshot size = | caption = | author = | developer = | released = | latest release version = | latest release date = | operating system = Unix, Unix-like | platform = Cross-platform | genre = Command | license = | website = }} {{mono|'''pkill'''}} (see {{mono|pgrep}}) is a command-line utility initially written for use with the Solaris 7 operating system in 1998. It has since been reimplemented for Linux and some BSDs.
As with the {{mono|kill}} and {{mono|killall}} commands, {{mono|pkill}} is used to send signals to processes. The {{mono|pkill}} command allows the use of extended regular expression patterns and other matching criteria.
==Example usage== Kill the most recently created {{mono|acroread}} process: <syntaxhighlight lang="bash"> pkill -n acroread </syntaxhighlight>
Send a USR1 signal to {{mono|acroread}} process: <syntaxhighlight lang="bash"> pkill -USR1 acroread </syntaxhighlight>
==See also== {{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
Some other unix commands related to process management and killing include:
* {{mono|kill}}, which sends signals processes by process ID instead of by pattern-matching against the name. * {{mono|renice}}, which changes the priority of a process. * {{mono|top}} and {{mono|htop}}, which display a list of processes and their resource usage; {{mono|htop}} can send signals to processes directly from this list. * {{mono|skill}}, a command-line utility to send signals or report process status. {{mono|pkill}} is favoured over it.
==References== *{{man|1|pkill|Solaris}} *{{man|1|pkill|die.net|look up processes based on name and other attributes}}
==External links== * [http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/816-5165/pkill-1/index.html Oracle: Man pages pgrep, pkill] * [http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19120-01/open.solaris/819-2380/spprocess-95930/index.html Oracle: How to terminate a process (pkill)]
{{Unix commands}}
Category:Unix process- and task-management-related software