Skip to main content
ubuntuask.com

Back to all posts

How to Kill A Process In Bash?

Published on
3 min read
How to Kill A Process In Bash? image

Best Tools to Kill a Process in Bash to Buy in October 2025

1 The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to 100 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed

The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to 100 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed

BUY & SAVE
$8.43 $22.00
Save 62%
The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to 100 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed
2 Process Mapping, Process Improvement and Process Management: A Practical Guide to Enhancing Work Flow and Information Flow

Process Mapping, Process Improvement and Process Management: A Practical Guide to Enhancing Work Flow and Information Flow

  • AFFORDABLE PRICES ON QUALITY USED BOOKS FOR SMART SHOPPERS.
  • THOROUGHLY EXAMINED FOR GOOD CONDITION AND READABILITY.
  • ECO-FRIENDLY CHOICE: REDUCE WASTE BY BUYING USED BOOKS.
BUY & SAVE
$37.12 $44.95
Save 17%
Process Mapping, Process Improvement and Process Management: A Practical Guide to Enhancing Work Flow and Information Flow
3 The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right

The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right

BUY & SAVE
$12.58 $22.99
Save 45%
The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right
4 The Hard and Soft Sides of Change Management: Tools for Managing Process and People

The Hard and Soft Sides of Change Management: Tools for Managing Process and People

BUY & SAVE
$32.99
The Hard and Soft Sides of Change Management: Tools for Managing Process and People
5 Fundamentals of Business Process Management

Fundamentals of Business Process Management

BUY & SAVE
$39.68 $64.99
Save 39%
Fundamentals of Business Process Management
6 Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Cohn))

Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Cohn))

BUY & SAVE
$22.85 $54.99
Save 58%
Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Cohn))
7 Workflow Modeling: Tools for Process Improvement and Application Development, 2nd Edition

Workflow Modeling: Tools for Process Improvement and Application Development, 2nd Edition

BUY & SAVE
$86.90
Workflow Modeling: Tools for Process Improvement and Application Development, 2nd Edition
8 SEL From a Distance: Tools and Processes for Anytime, Anywhere

SEL From a Distance: Tools and Processes for Anytime, Anywhere

BUY & SAVE
$24.78 $27.95
Save 11%
SEL From a Distance: Tools and Processes for Anytime, Anywhere
9 The Property Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right

The Property Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right

BUY & SAVE
$15.69 $24.99
Save 37%
The Property Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right
+
ONE MORE?

To kill a process in Bash, you can use the kill command followed by the process ID (PID) of the process you want to terminate. Here's how to do it:

  1. First, you need to identify the PID of the process you want to kill. To do this, you can use the ps command to list all running processes along with their PIDs. The ps aux command is commonly used for this purpose.
  2. Once you have identified the PID of the process you want to kill, you can use the kill command. The basic syntax of the kill command is as follows: kill [options] Replace with the actual process ID you obtained earlier.
  3. By default, the kill command sends the SIGTERM signal (termination signal) to the process, which allows the process to perform any necessary cleanup tasks before terminating. The process should gracefully exit after receiving the SIGTERM signal. If the process does not respond to SIGTERM or if you want to forcefully terminate it, you can send the SIGKILL signal using the -9 option. For example: kill -9
  4. After executing the kill command, the specified process should be terminated, and its resources will be released. You can verify if the process has been killed by re-checking the list of running processes using the ps command or tools like pgrep and pkill.

Remember, killing a process can have consequences, so it's recommended to use caution and consider any potential impacts before forcibly terminating a process.

What is the equivalent keyboard shortcut for killing a process in Bash?

The keyboard shortcut for killing a process in Bash is:

Ctrl + C

What is the command to kill a process group in Bash?

The command to kill a process group in Bash is kill -- -$PGID, where $PGID is the process group ID.

Alternatively, you can use the pkill command to kill a process group by specifying the negative process group ID with the -g flag. For example, pkill -g $PGID.

What is the command to kill a process silently in Bash?

The command to kill a process silently in Bash is kill -9 <PID>, where <PID> is the process ID of the process you want to kill. The -9 option is used to send the SIGKILL signal to the process, forcing it to terminate immediately without giving it a chance to clean up. This is considered a "silent" way of killing a process because it abruptly terminates it.

How to terminate a process by its executable path in Bash?

You can terminate a process by its executable path in Bash using the pkill command. Here's an example:

  1. Open the Terminal.
  2. Find the process you want to terminate by running the pgrep command with the name or path of the executable: pgrep -f /path/to/executable This will return the process ID (PID) of the matching process.
  3. Terminate the process using the pkill command with the -9 option: pkill -9 -f /path/to/executable Replace /path/to/executable with the actual path to the executable. The -9 option sends a SIGKILL signal to forcefully terminate the process. Note that using -9 can cause potential data loss or corruption, so use it with caution.

That's it! The process should now be terminated.