- How do I search for a process by name without using grep?
- 8 Answers 8
- How to Easily Find and Kill Processes in Linux: A Comprehensive Guide
- Using pidof and ps commands to find the process ID
- Using pidof command
- Using ps command
- Using the kill command to terminate a process by PID
- Using SIGTERM signal
- Using SIGHUP signal
- Linux Command Line (63) kill process
- Using the top command to list running processes and get PID
- Listing running processes
- Getting PID
- Using the pgrep command to kill a process by name
- Using pgrep command
- Using kill command with PID obtained from pgrep
- Terminating processes of another user in Linux
- Becoming a superuser
- Assuming an equivalent role
- Terminating a process of another user
- Other code examples
- Conclusion
- How to Find and Kill Running Processes in Linux
- What is a Process in Linux?
- How to Find Process PID in Linux
- How to Kill Processes in Linux
- How to Kill Multiple Process PID’s in Linux
- Summary
How do I search for a process by name without using grep?
OP just wants a shorter command I’d guess. If there would be a thing like ps -n
8 Answers 8
The pgrep command, and its sibling pkill , exists precisely for this purpose:
- pgrep firefox will list all processes whose commands match firefox
- pgrep -f firefox will list all processes whose entire command lines match firefox
- pgrep -x firefox will list all processes whose commands exactly match firefox
- . and so on.
And naturally, pgrep will exclude itself from the match, so none of the grep rituals associated with ps | grep are needed.
The other set of tools for this are the pidof and killall commands. These aren’t as flexible as pgrep and pkill .
Useful if you have a long command name and/or command line args is pgrep -f foo which uses the full process name to match foo
-C cmdlist Select by command name. This selects the processes whose executable name is given in cmdlist. -f Do full-format listing. This option can be combined with many other UNIX-style options to add additional columns. It also causes the command arguments to be printed. When used with -L, the NLWP (number of threads) and LWP (thread ID) columns will be added. See the c option, the format keyword args, and the format keyword comm.
This is the best answer but unfortunately doesn’t work on OSX. The BSD ps -C flag behaves completely differently — «Change the way the CPU percentage is calculated»
You will get all the processes with names
exmple: 1747 568 568 ? 00:00:00 colord 1833 1832 1832 ? 00:00:00 gnome-keyring-d 2263 568 568 ? 00:00:00 udisksd 2311 2311 2311 ? 00:00:00 cupsd 2315 2315 2311 ? 00:00:00 dbus
Redirect or so copy the output to a file and then open nano , press Ctrl + W and you can search for the name you want.
top allows you to search for string when you hit uppercase L ; the process will be highlighted, and use up and down arrow keys to scroll through list of processes. Similarly, htop command allows highlighting a particular process when you hit / . And \ will filter all the processes with a particular string in the name.
For those who like awk, here’s an awk oneliner: ps -eF | awk ‘/process-name/ ‘ . With ps -eF process name is always in 11th column. Alternatively if you do ps -eF | awk » | sort you get a sorted list of processes names, sorted alphabetically. Pipe it into less command just to view the long list of files easier.
How to Easily Find and Kill Processes in Linux: A Comprehensive Guide
Learn how to manage processes in Linux with this comprehensive guide. Discover different commands and options to get process ID and kill processes by PID or name.
- Using pidof and ps commands to find the process ID
- Using the kill command to terminate a process by PID
- Linux Command Line (63) kill process
- Using the top command to list running processes and get PID
- Using the pgrep command to kill a process by name
- Terminating processes of another user in Linux
- Other code examples
- Conclusion
- How to find PID and kill process in Linux?
- How do you find the PID and kill the process?
- How do I find the process ID of a process in Linux?
- How find PID and kill process in Unix?
Linux operating systems are widely used in the IT industry, and it is essential to know how to manage processes in Linux. Finding and killing running processes is a crucial task for Linux system administrators, and there are various commands available for this purpose. In this post, we will discuss how to get the process ID and kill processes in Linux using different commands and options.
Using pidof and ps commands to find the process ID
The pidof command is one of the easiest ways to find the process ID of a running program or app by name. The syntax for using pidof command is as follows:
pidof [OPTIONS] program_name
The ps command can also be used to get the list of active processes and their details, including PID. The syntax for using ps command is as follows:
Examples of using pidof and ps commands to find the process ID will be provided below.
Using pidof command
To find the process ID of a running program or app by name, use the pidof command followed by the name of the program or app as shown below:
For example, to find the process ID of the Firefox browser, run the following command:
This will return the process ID of the Firefox browser, which can be used to terminate the process.
Using ps command
To get the list of active processes and their details, including PID, use the ps command followed by the options as shown below:
For example, to get the list of all active processes, run the following command:
This will return the list of all active processes with their details, including PID, which can be used to terminate a specific process.
Using the kill command to terminate a process by PID
The kill command can be used to terminate a process by pid . The syntax for using the kill command is as follows:
The safest way to kill a process is to use SIGTERM, while SIGHUP is less secure. Examples of using the kill command to terminate a process by PID and signal value will be provided below.
Using SIGTERM signal
To safely terminate a process, use SIGTERM signal as shown below:
For example, to terminate the Firefox browser, run the following command:
This will safely terminate the Firefox browser.
Using SIGHUP signal
To less securely terminate a process, use SIGHUP signal as shown below:
For example, to less securely terminate the Firefox browser, run the following command:
This will less securely terminate the Firefox browser.
Linux Command Line (63) kill process
We can kill a process in top by pressing the «k» key, then typing in the PID and pressing enter Duration: 8:20
Using the top command to list running processes and get PID
The top command can be used to list the running processes dynamically and get the PID of the process to be killed. The top command also provides various options to sort and filter the process list. Examples of using the top command to list running processes and get PID will be provided below.
Listing running processes
To list the running processes, run the following command:
This will display the list of all running processes and their details.
Getting PID
To get the PID of a specific process, use the arrow keys to navigate to the desired process and note the PID. For example, to get the PID of the Firefox browser, navigate to the Firefox process using the arrow keys and note the PID.
Using the pgrep command to kill a process by name
The pgrep command can be used to find the process ID of a running program or app by name. The kill command can be used with the PID obtained from pgrep to terminate the process. Examples of using the pgrep and kill commands to kill a process by name will be provided below.
Using pgrep command
To find the process ID of a running program or app by name, use the pgrep command followed by the name of the program or app as shown below:
For example, to find the process ID of the Firefox browser, run the following command:
This will return the process ID of the Firefox browser, which can be used to terminate the process.
Using kill command with PID obtained from pgrep
To terminate the process using the PID obtained from pgrep command, use the kill command as shown below:
For example, to terminate the Firefox browser using the PID obtained from pgrep command, run the following command:
This will terminate the Firefox browser.
Terminating processes of another user in Linux
To terminate a process of another user, become a superuser or assume an equivalent role. The user needs to have appropriate permissions to kill processes of other users. Examples of using appropriate permissions to terminate processes of another user will be provided below.
Becoming a superuser
To become a superuser, run the following command:
This will prompt for the password of the current user.
Assuming an equivalent role
To assume an equivalent role, run the following command:
This will prompt for the password of the specified user.
Terminating a process of another user
To terminate a process of another user, use the kill command with the PID obtained from the ps command as shown below:
For example, to terminate a process of another user with username “user2”, run the following command:
sudo kill $(ps -U user2 -o pid=)
This will terminate the process of another user with the specified username.
Other code examples
In shell, ubuntu kill process code example
pidof slack 9734 9718 9716 9708 9622 9619 sudo kill -9 process_idpidof apt 9734 9718 9716 9708 9622 9619 sudo kill -9 9734 9718 9716 9708 9622 9619
Conclusion
managing processes in linux is an essential task for system administrators, and there are various commands available for this purpose. The pidof, ps, top, pgrep, and kill commands can be used to find and kill running processes in linux . It is important to use the appropriate signal value and obtain the necessary permissions when terminating processes in Linux. By following the instructions outlined in this comprehensive guide, system administrators can easily find and kill processes in Linux, ensuring optimal system performance and stability.
How to Find and Kill Running Processes in Linux
Process management is one of the important aspects of System Administration in Linux, and it includes killing of processes using the kill command.
In this how-to, we shall look at killing of less productive or unwanted processes on your Linux system.
What is a Process in Linux?
A process on a Linux system can be a running occurrence of an application or program. You can also refer to processes as tasks executing in the operating system.
When a process is running, it keeps on shifting from one state to another and a process can in one of the following states:
- Running: meaning the process is either executing or it is just set to be executed.
- Waiting: meaning that the process is waiting for an event or for a system resource to carry out a task.
There are two types of waiting process under Linux namely interruptible and uninterruptible.
A waiting process that can be interrupted by signals is called Interruptible, while a waiting process that is directly waiting on hardware conditions and cannot be interrupted under any conditions is called uninterruptible.
- Stopped: meaning that the process has been stopped, using a signal.
- Zombie: meaning the process has been stopped abruptly and is dead.
With this brief overview let us now look at ways of killing processes in a Linux system. We’ve already covered a few articles on ways to kill Linux running processes us using kill, pkill, killall and xkill, you can read them below.
When killing processes, the kill command is used to send a named signal to a named process or groups of processes. The default signal is the TERM signal.
Remember that the kill command can be a built-in function in many modern shells or external located at /bin/kill.
How to Find Process PID in Linux
In Linux every process on a system has a PID (Process Identification Number) which can be used to kill the process.
You can identify the PID of any process by using the pidof command as follows:
$ pidof firefox $ pidof chrome $ pidof gimp-2.8
How to Kill Processes in Linux
Once you find the process PID, let us now look at how to kill processes. In this first example, I am going to first get the PID of the process and then send a signal to it.
I want to kill gimp process, so I will do it as follows:
To verify that the process has been killed, run the pidof command and you will not be able to view the PID.
You can also send a named signal to the process by using the signal name or numbers as follows:
$ pidof vlc $ kill -SIGTERM 9541 $ pidof vlc
Using the signal number to kill a process:
$ pidof banshee $ kill -9 9647 $ pidof banshee
In the above example, the number 9 is the signal number for the SIGKILL signal.
How to Kill Multiple Process PID’s in Linux
To kill more than one process, pass the PID(s) to the kill command as follows:
$ pidof gimp-2.8 $ pidof vlc $ pidof banshee $ kill -9 9734 9747 9762
Summary
There are many other ways of killing processes in Linux, these few examples just help to give you an overview of killing processes. Do let us know how you kill processes in Linux? and also tell other ways if any via comments.