Name
skill, snice - send a signal or report process statusSynopsis
skill [ signal ] [ options ] expression snice [ "new priority" ] [ options ] expressionDescription
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 , \ --fastFast mode. This option has not been implemented.
-i , \ --interactiveInteractive use. You will be asked to approve each action.
-l , \ --listList all signal names.
-L , \ --tableList all signal names in a nice table.
-n , \ --no-actionNo action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do not actually change the system.
-v , \ --verboseVerbose; explain what is being done.
-w , \ --warningsEnable 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.