Working with killall command

The killall command in Linux is a powerful utility used to terminate multiple processes by name. Unlike the kill command, which requires process IDs, killall identifies and terminates all processes that match the specified name, making it efficient for managing multiple instances of a program. This command is particularly useful for stopping services, managing user sessions, or terminating runaway processes.

General Syntax

The following is the general syntax for working with killall command:

killall [ -Z CONTEXT ] [ -u USER ] [ -y TIME ] [ -o TIME ] [ -eIgiqrvw ] [ -s SIGNAL | -SIGNAL ] NAME...

1. The command below will begin the process yes and yield its standard output to /dev/null. What we are keen on here, is the second line which contains the accompanying data “[1]” ( work ID ) and “16017” the real PID. On your Linux OS, you can run numerous cycles at some random time and each cycle, contingent upon the client benefits can be ended utilizing either kill or killall orders.

$ yes > /dev/null &

2. From the above you can see that we have begun extra cycles utilizing yes order and that each cycle has diverse PID. To list all your measures forked from the current shell use “jobs” command:

$ jobs

3. The contrast between kill versus killall commands is that with kill order we can end just a solitary cycle at that point, though with killall order we can end numerous cycles dependent on given models, for example, process group, process age, or client privilege. Now, we will use “kill” command to terminate the process with PID “16022”:

$ sudo kill 16022

Now, from the above command, we have terminated the process with PID 16022, and it was processed no. [4]. We can also verify the command execution by giving the “jobs” command:

4. Ending each cycle individually can end up being hard and repetitive work. We should see whether we can get some assistance by utilizing killall order and process cycle name:

$ sudo killall yes

Now, we can easily observe that all processes running under the name “yes” have been terminated successfully.

Have you ever confronted the circumstance where you executed a program or an application, and abruptly while you are utilizing the application, it gets halted and starts to crash? You attempt to begin the application again, yet nothing happens on the grounds that the first application measure never genuinely closes down totally. The arrangement is to end the application cycle. Fortunately, there are a few utilities in Linux that permit you to execute the kill process. It is recommended to read kill Command before proceeding further.