kill command

https://linuxize.com/post/kill-command-in-linux/

The syntax of the kill command takes the following form:

kill [OPTIONS] [PID]...

The kill command sends a signal to specified processes or process groups, causing them to act according to the signal. When the signal is not specified, it defaults to -15 (-TERM).

The most commonly used signals are:

  • 1 (HUP) - Reload a process.
  • 9 (KILL) - Kill a process.
  • 15 (TERM) - Gracefully stop a process.

Use -9 flag to kill process.

kill -9 <process-id>
or
kill -KILL <process-id>

If you use the flag 15 (TERM) it only stops a process.

To get a list of all available signals:

kill -l

Signals can be specified in three different ways:

  1. Using number (e.g., -1 or -s 1).
  2. Using the “SIG” prefix (e.g., -SIGHUP or -s SIGHUP).
  3. Without the “SIG” prefix (e.g., -HUP or -s HUP).

The following commands are equivalent to one another:

kill -1 PID_NUMBER
kill -SIGHUP PID_NUMBER
kill -HUP PID_NUMBER