---
name: "killall5"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "sysvinit-utils"
version: "3.14-4"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/killall5"
---

# killall5(8)

send a signal to all processes

## NAME

killall5 - send a signal to all processes

## SYNOPSIS

**killall5** **-signalnumber** \[**-o** *omitpid*\[,*omitpid*...\]\] \[**-o** *omitpid*\[,*omitpid*...\]...\]

## DESCRIPTION

**killall5** is the SystemV **killall** command. It sends a signal to all processes except kernel threads and the processes in its own session, so it won't kill the shell that is running the script it was called from. Its primary (only) use is in the **rc** scripts found in the */etc/init.d* directory.

## OPTIONS

- **-o** *omitpid*

  Tells **killall5** to omit processes with that process id.

## NOTES

**killall5** can also be invoked as [**pidof**(8)](/pidof/8.md), which is simply a (symbolic) link to the **killall5** program.

## EXIT STATUS

The program return zero if it killed processes.  It returns 2 if no process were killed, and 1 if it was unable to find any processes (*/proc/* is missing).

## SEE ALSO

[**halt**(8)](/halt/8.md), [**reboot**(8)](/reboot/8.md), [**pidof**(8)](/pidof/8.md)

## AUTHOR

Miquel van Smoorenburg ⟨miquels@\\:cistron\\:.nl⟩