SKILL

Section: Linux User's Manual (1)
Updated: March 12, 1999
Index Return to Main Contents
 

NAME

skill, snice - send a signal or report process status

 

SYNOPSIS

skill [signal to send] [options] process selection criteria
snice [new priority] [options] process selection criteria

 

DESCRIPTION

These tools are probably obsolete and unportable. The command syntax is poorly defined. Consider using the killall, pkill, and pgrep commands instead.

The default signal for skill is TERM. Use -l or -L to list available signals. Particularly useful signals include HUP, INT, KILL, STOP, CONT, and 0. Alternate signals may be specified in three ways: -9 -SIGKILL -KILL.

The default priority for snice is +4. (snice +4 ...) Priority numbers range from +20 (slowest) to -20 (fastest). Negative priority numbers are restricted to administrative users.

 

GENERAL OPTIONS

-ffast modeThis is not currently useful.
-iinteractive use You will be asked to approve each action.
-vverbose output Display information about selected processes.
-wwarnings enabledThis is not currently useful.
-nno actionThis only displays the process ID.
-Vshow versionDisplays version of program.

 

PROCESS SELECTION OPTIONS

Selection criteria can be: terminal, user, pid, command. The options below may be used to ensure correct interpretation. Do not blame Albert for this interesting interface.
-tThe next argument is a terminal (tty or pty).
-uThe next argument is a username.
-pThe next argument is a process ID number.
-cThe next argument is a command name.

 

SIGNALS

The signals listed below may be available for use with skill. When known, numbers and default behavior are shown.
NameNumActionDescription
00n/aexit code indicates if a signal may be sent
ALRM14exit
HUP1exit
INT2exit
KILL9exitthis signal may not be blocked
PIPE13exit
POLLexit
PROFexit
TERM15exit
USR1exit
USR2exit
VTALRMexit
STKFLTexitmay not be implemented
PWRignoremay exit on some systems
WINCHignore
CHLDignore
URGignore
TSTPstopmay interact with the shell
TTINstopmay interact with the shell
TTOUstopmay interact with the shell
STOPstopthis signal may not be blocked
CONTrestartcontinue if stopped, otherwise ignore
ABRT6core
FPE8core
ILL4core
QUIT3core
SEGV11core
TRAP5core
SYScoremay not be implemented
EMTcoremay not be implemented
BUScorecore dump may fail
XCPUcorecore dump may fail
XFSZcorecore dump may fail

 

EXAMPLES

CommandDescription
snice seti crack +7Slow down seti and crack
skill -KILL -v /dev/pts/*Kill users on new-style PTY devices
skill -STOP viro lm davemStop 3 users
snice -17 root bashGive priority to root's shell

 

SEE ALSO

killall(1) pkill(1) kill(1) renice(1) nice(1) signal(7) kill(2)

 

STANDARDS

No standards apply.

 

AUTHOR

Albert Cahalan <albert@users.sf.net> wrote skill and snice in 1999 as a replacement for a non-free version, and is the current maintainer of the procps collection. Please send bug reports to <procps-feedback@lists.sf.net>.