killall(1)

NAME

   killall - kill processes by name

SYNOPSIS

   killall [-Z, --context pattern] [-e, --exact] [-g, --process-group]
   [-i, --interactive] [-o, --older-than TIME] [-q, --quiet]
   [-r, --regexp] [-s, --signal SIGNAL, -SIGNAL] [-u, --user user]
   [-v, --verbose] [-w, --wait] [-y, --younger-than TIME] [-I, --ignore-
   case] [-V, --version] [--] name ...
   killall -l
   killall -V, --version

DESCRIPTION

   killall  sends  a  signal to all processes running any of the specified
   commands.  If no signal name is specified, SIGTERM is sent.

   Signals can be specified either by name (e.g.  -HUP or -SIGHUP)  or  by
   number (e.g.  -1) or by option -s.

   If  the command name is not regular expression (option -r) and contains
   a slash (/), processes executing that particular file will be  selected
   for killing, independent of their name.

   killall  returns  a  zero  return code if at least one process has been
   killed for each listed command, or no commands were listed and at least
   one  process  matched  the  -u and -Z search criteria.  killall returns
   non-zero otherwise.

   A killall process never  kills  itself  (but  may  kill  other  killall
   processes).

OPTIONS

   -e, --exact
          Require  an  exact match for very long names.  If a command name
          is longer than 15 characters, the full name may  be  unavailable
          (i.e.   it  is  swapped  out).   In this case, killall will kill
          everything that matches within the first  15  characters.   With
          -e, such entries are skipped.  killall prints a message for each
          skipped entry if -v is specified in addition to -e,

   -I, --ignore-case
          Do case insensitive process name match.

   -g, --process-group
          Kill the process group to which the process belongs.   The  kill
          signal  is  only sent once per group, even if multiple processes
          belonging to the same process group were found.

   -i, --interactive
          Interactively ask for confirmation before killing.

   -l, --list
          List all known signal names.

   -o, --older-than
          Match only processes that are older (started  before)  the  time
          specified.   The  time is specified as a float then a unit.  The
          units are  s,m,h,d,w,M,y  for  seconds,  minutes,  hours,  days,
          weeks, Months and years respectively.

   -q, --quiet
          Do not complain if no processes were killed.

   -r, --regexp
          Interpret  process  name  pattern  as  a  POSIX extended regular
          expression, per regex(3).

   -s, --signal, -SIGNAL
          Send this signal instead of SIGTERM.

   -u, --user
          Kill only processes the specified user owns.  Command names  are
          optional.

   -v, --verbose
          Report if the signal was successfully sent.

   -V, --version
          Display version information.

   -w, --wait
          Wait  for  all killed processes to die.  killall checks once per
          second if any of the  killed  processes  still  exist  and  only
          returns if none are left.  Note that killall may wait forever if
          the signal was ignored, had no effect, or if the  process  stays
          in zombie state.

   -y, --younger-than
          Match  only  processes that are younger (started after) the time
          specified.  The time is specified as a float then a  unit.   The
          units  are  s,m,h,d,w,M,y  for  seconds,  minutes,  hours, days,
          weeks, Months and years respectively.

   -Z, --context
          (SELinux Only) Specify security  context:  kill  only  processes
          having  security  context that match with given expended regular
          expression pattern.  Must precede other arguments on the command
          line.  Command names are optional.

FILES

   /proc  location of the proc file system

KNOWN BUGS

   Killing  by  file  only works for executables that are kept open during
   execution, i.e. impure executables can't be killed this way.

   Be warned that typing killall name may not have the desired  effect  on
   non-Linux systems, especially when done by a privileged user.

   killall  -w doesn't detect if a process disappears and is replaced by a
   new process with the same PID between scans.

   If processes change their name, killall may not be able to  match  them
   correctly.

   killall has a limit of names that can be specified on the command line.
   This figure is the size of an unsigned long multiplied by 8.  For  most
   32  bit  systems  the limit is 32 and similarly for a 64 bit system the
   limit is usually 64.

SEE ALSO

   kill(1),  fuser(1),  pgrep(1),  pidof(1),  pkill(1),  ps(1),   kill(2),
   regex(3).

---

More Linux Commands

---