---
name: "pkill"
section: "1"
platform: "macos"
package: "adv_cmds"
version: "237"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pkill"
---

# pkill(1)

find or signal processes by name

## NAME

**pgrep**, **pkill** – find or signal processes by name

## SYNOPSIS

**pgrep** \[**-Lafilnoqvx**\] \[**-F** *pidfile*\] \[**-G** *gid*\] \[**-P** *ppid*\] \[**-U** *uid*\] \[**-d** *delim*\] \[**-g** *pgrp*\] \[**-t** *tty*\] \[**-u** *euid*\] *pattern* *...*

**pkill** \[**-***signal*\] \[**-ILafilnovx**\] \[**-F** *pidfile*\] \[**-G** *gid*\] \[**-P** *ppid*\] \[**-U** *uid*\] \[**-g** *pgrp*\] \[**-t** *tty*\] \[**-u** *euid*\] *pattern* *...*

## DESCRIPTION

The **pgrep** command searches the process table on the running system and prints the process IDs of all processes that match the criteria given on the command line.

The **pkill** command searches the process table on the running system and signals all processes that match the criteria given on the command line.

The following options are available:

- **-F** *pidfile*

  Restrict matches to a process whose PID is stored in the *pidfile* file.

- **-G** *gid*

  Restrict matches to processes with a real group ID in the comma-separated list *gid*.

- **-I**

  Request confirmation before attempting to signal each process.

- **-L**

  The *pidfile* file given for the **-F** option must be locked with the [flock(2)](/flock/2.md) syscall or created with [pidfile(3)](/pidfile/3.md).

- **-P** *ppid*

  Restrict matches to processes with a parent process ID in the comma-separated list *ppid*.

- **-U** *uid*

  Restrict matches to processes with a real user ID in the comma-separated list *uid*.

- **-d** *delim*

  Specify a delimiter to be printed between each process ID. The default is a newline. This option can only be used with the **pgrep** command.

- **-a**

  Include process ancestors in the match list. By default, the current **pgrep** or **pkill** process and all of its ancestors are excluded (unless **-v** is used).

- **-f**

  Match against full argument lists. The default is to match against process names.

- **-g** *pgrp*

  Restrict matches to processes with a process group ID in the comma-separated list *pgrp*. The value zero is taken to mean the process group ID of the running **pgrep** or **pkill** command.

- **-i**

  Ignore case distinctions in both the process table and the supplied pattern.

- **-l**

  Long output. For **pgrep**, print the process name in addition to the process ID for each matching process. If used in conjunction with **-f**, print the process ID and the full argument list for each matching process. For **pkill**, display the kill command used for each process killed.

- **-n**

  Select only the newest (most recently started) of the matching processes.

- **-o**

  Select only the oldest (least recently started) of the matching processes.

- **-q**

  For **pgrep**, Do not write anything to standard output.

- **-t** *tty*

  Restrict matches to processes associated with a terminal in the comma-separated list *tty*. Terminal names may be of the form *tty**xx* or the shortened form *xx*. A single dash (‘-’) matches processes not associated with a terminal.

- **-u** *euid*

  Restrict matches to processes with an effective user ID in the comma-separated list *euid*.

- **-v**

  Reverse the sense of the matching; display processes that do not match the given criteria.

- **-x**

  Require an exact match of the process name, or argument list if **-f** is given. The default is to match any substring.

- **-***signal*

  A non-negative decimal number or symbolic signal name specifying the signal to be sent instead of the default TERM. This option is valid only when given as the first argument to **pkill**.

If any *pattern* operands are specified, they are used as extended regular expressions to match the command name or full argument list of each process.

Note that a running **pgrep** or **pkill** process will never consider itself as a potential match.

## EXIT STATUS

The **pgrep** and **pkill** utilities return one of the following values upon exit:

- 0

  One or more processes were matched.

- 1

  No processes were matched.

- 2

  Invalid options were specified on the command line.

- 3

  An internal error occurred.

## EXAMPLES

Show the pid of the process holding the */tmp/.X0-lock* pid file:

```
$ pgrep -F /tmp/.X0-lock
1211
```

Show long output for firefox processes:

```
$ pgrep -l firefox
1312 firefox
1309 firefox
1288 firefox
1280 firefox
1279 firefox
1278 firefox
1277 firefox
1264 firefox
```

Same as above but just showing the pid of the most recent process:

```
$ pgrep -n firefox
1312
```

Look for vim processes. Match against the full argument list:

```
$ pgrep -f vim
44968
30790
```

Same as above but matching against the ‘list’ word and showing the full argument list:

```
$ pgrep -f -l list
30790 vim list.txt
```

Send *SIGSTOP* signal to processes that are an exact match:

```
$ pkill -SIGSTOP -f -x "vim list.txt"
```

Without **-f** names over 19 characters will silently fail:

```
$ vim this_is_a_very_long_file_name &
[1] 36689
$
[1]+  Stopped                 vim this_is_a_very_long_file_name
$ pgrep "vim this"
$
```

Same as above using the **-f** flag:

```
$ pgrep -f "vim this"
36689
```

## SEE ALSO

[kill(1)](/kill/1.md), [killall(1)](/killall/1.md), [ps(1)](/ps/1.md), [flock(2)](/flock/2.md), [kill(2)](/kill/2.md), [sigaction(2)](/sigaction/2.md), [pidfile(3)](/pidfile/3.md), [re\_format(7)](/re_format/7.md)

## HISTORY

The **pkill** and **pgrep** utilities first appeared in NetBSD 1.6. They are modelled after utilities of the same name that appeared in Sun Solaris 7. They made their first appearance in FreeBSD 5.3.

## AUTHORS

Andrew Doran ⟨*ad@NetBSD.org*⟩