killall

What it does

killall NAME sends SIGTERM to every process with exactly that command name. It is handy when a program has many processes. Options select by user, age or a regular expression, and -i asks before each one.

How to write it

killall [OPTION]... [-s SIGNAL | -SIGNAL] NAME...
killall -l

Options 16

Most used

-s, --signal SIGNAL, -SIGNAL: The signal to send (default TERM).
-u, --user USER: Only processes of this user.
-i, --interactive: Ask before each process.
-e, --exact: Exact match for long names (over 15 characters).
-I, --ignore-case: Ignore upper and lower case.
-r, --regexp: NAME is an extended regular expression.
-o, --older-than TIME: Only processes older than TIME (like 30m, 2h).
-y, --younger-than TIME: Only processes younger than TIME.
-w, --wait: Wait until the processes are gone.
-g, --process-group: Signal the process group.
-q, --quiet: No message if nothing was killed.
-v, --verbose: Report each signal.
-n, --ns PID: Only processes in the same PID namespace as PID.
-Z, --context PATTERN: Only processes with this SELinux context.
-l, --list: List the signal names.
-V, --version: Show the version.

Examples 10

$ run as a normal user# run as root (or with sudo)

1Stop all processes with a name
```
$killall dd
```
Every dd of yours.
2Force
```
#killall -9 stuck-app
```
When SIGTERM did not help.
3Only one user's processes
```
#killall -u lisa firefox
```
Other users' firefox keeps running.
4Ask for each one
```
#killall -i bash
Kill bash(4301) ? (y/N)
```
Safe when you are not sure.
5Wait until they are gone
```
#killall -w myapp && systemctl start myapp
```
No race between stop and start.
6Old processes only
```
#killall -o 2h find
```
Stops find jobs that run more than 2 hours.
7With a regular expression
```
#killall -r '^python3\.1[0-9]$'
```
Matches python3.10 … python3.19.
8Reload many processes
```
#killall -HUP rsyslogd
```
Same as a reload.
9Quiet in scripts
```
$killall -q sleep || true
```
No message when none run.

10Verbose report

#killall -v dd
Killed dd(4123) with signal 15

Shows what happened.

Watch out

On some other UNIX systems killall kills all processes. Use it only on Linux.
Names are cut to 15 characters; use -e for long names.

Exit codes

0 :: At least one process got the signal. 1 :: No process was killed.

`killall`

What it does

How to write it

Options 16

Examples 10

1Stop all processes with a name

2Force

3Only one user's processes

4Ask for each one

5Wait until they are gone

6Old processes only

7With a regular expression

8Reload many processes

9Quiet in scripts

10Verbose report

Watch out

Exit codes

Full manual

What it does

How to write it

Options 16

Examples 10

1Stop all processes with a name

2Force

3Only one user's processes

4Ask for each one

5Wait until they are gone

6Old processes only

7With a regular expression

8Reload many processes

9Quiet in scripts

10Verbose report

Watch out

Exit codes

Related commands

Used in these lessons

Used in these labs

Full manual

`killall`