The Linux killall command terminates processes that are no longer functioning properly and prevents them from restarting. In order to avoid errors, the order can be adapted.
What is Linux killall?
Even in Linux, it can happen that the system is overloaded and that certain programs or processes no longer work or no longer work correctly. In this case, for avoid a reboot, you can use the killall command in the majority of Linux distributions, such as Debian or Ubuntu. In case of overload, this command with the martial name will provide you with valuable services. In fact, it stops all processes without exception, except its own. This frees up your computer and saves your backups.
How does the killall command work?
The killall command in Linux is a fallback solution when one or more processes no longer react or no longer react correctly and no longer terminate at the expected point. So you force the shutdown by sending a signal to all running processes that are executing any of the commands shown in the killall command. These processes can be indicated by name or number.
What is the syntax of the killall command?
The killall syntax on Linux is as follows:
$ killall [Options] [Noms]bash
It is important that you pay attention to the precise spelling of processes. The case (lower and upper case) must indeed be taken into consideration. If you do not specify a name, all similar background processes except killall are stopped.
What are the options associated with killall?
The killall command in Linux has many options. Here are the main ones:
- -e or –exact : With this option you ensure that the exact spelling is taken into account even for very long names. Without this option, only the first 15 characters of the command may be considered.
- -g or –process-group : This option terminates the entire process group of which a process is a part.
- -I or –ignore-case : with this option, case (lower and upper case) is ignored.
- -i or –interactive : This option sends an interactive request before the end of a process.
- -l or –list : This option provides you with a list of all known signals.
- -q or –quiet : thanks to this option, you do not receive any complaints if no process has been stopped by the killall command.
- -V or –version : With this option you receive a version number.
- -v or –verbose : thanks to this option, you receive a notification if a process has been stopped.
- -w or –wait : with this option, killall checks every second if all processes have been stopped.
Examples of using the killall command
Finally, we present some additional examples of using the killall command in Linux.
All background processes are stopped immediately.
This command terminates the process named “Example”.
The system makes its request after confirmation, then the “Example” process is stopped.
