{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "KILLALL",
    "section": "1",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/KILLALL/1/json",
    "generated": "2026-06-03T04:28:53Z",
    "synopsis": "killall [-Z, --context pattern] [-e, --exact] [-g, --process-group] [-i, --interactive]\n[-n, --ns PID] [-o, --older-than TIME] [-q, --quiet] [-r, --regexp] [-s, --signal SIG‐\nNAL, -SIGNAL] [-u, --user user] [-v, --verbose] [-w, --wait] [-y, --younger-than TIME]\n[-I, --ignore-case] [-V, --version] [--] name ...\nkillall -l\nkillall -V, --version",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "killall - kill processes by name\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "killall [-Z, --context pattern] [-e, --exact] [-g, --process-group] [-i, --interactive]\n[-n, --ns PID] [-o, --older-than TIME] [-q, --quiet] [-r, --regexp] [-s, --signal SIG‐\nNAL, -SIGNAL] [-u, --user user] [-v, --verbose] [-w, --wait] [-y, --younger-than TIME]\n[-I, --ignore-case] [-V, --version] [--] name ...\nkillall -l\nkillall -V, --version\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "killall sends a signal to all processes running any of the specified commands.  If no  signal\nname is specified, SIGTERM is sent.\n\nSignals can be specified either by name (e.g.  -HUP or -SIGHUP) or by number (e.g.  -1) or by\noption -s.\n\nIf the command name is not regular expression (option -r) and contains a slash (/), processes\nexecuting that particular file will be selected for killing, independent of their name.\n\nkillall  returns  a  zero return code if at least one process has been killed for each listed\ncommand, or no commands were listed and at least one process matched the  -u  and  -Z  search\ncriteria.  killall returns non-zero otherwise.\n\nA killall process never kills itself (but may kill other killall processes).\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "OPTIONS": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "-e --exact",
                    "content": "Require an exact match for very long names.  If a command name is longer than 15 char‐\nacters, the full name may be unavailable (i.e.  it is swapped  out).   In  this  case,\nkillall  will  kill  everything that matches within the first 15 characters.  With -e,\nsuch entries are skipped.  killall prints a message for each skipped entry  if  -v  is\nspecified in addition to -e.\n",
                    "flag": "-e",
                    "long": "--exact"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-I --ignore-case",
                    "content": "Do case insensitive process name match.\n",
                    "flag": "-I",
                    "long": "--ignore-case"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-g --process-group",
                    "content": "Kill  the  process  group  to which the process belongs.  The kill signal is only sent\nonce per group, even if multiple processes belonging to the same  process  group  were\nfound.\n",
                    "flag": "-g",
                    "long": "--process-group"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-i --interactive",
                    "content": "Interactively ask for confirmation before killing.\n",
                    "flag": "-i",
                    "long": "--interactive"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-l --list",
                    "content": "List all known signal names.\n",
                    "flag": "-l",
                    "long": "--list"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-n --ns",
                    "content": "Match  against the PID namespace of the given PID. The default is to match against all\nnamespaces.\n",
                    "flag": "-n",
                    "long": "--ns"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-o --older-than",
                    "content": "Match only processes that are older (started before) the time specified.  The time  is\nspecified  as  a float then a unit.  The units are s,m,h,d,w,M,y for seconds, minutes,\nhours, days, weeks, months and years respectively.\n",
                    "flag": "-o",
                    "long": "--older-than"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-q --quiet",
                    "content": "Do not complain if no processes were killed.\n",
                    "flag": "-q",
                    "long": "--quiet"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-r --regexp",
                    "content": "Interpret process name pattern as a POSIX extended regular expression, per regex(3).\n",
                    "flag": "-r",
                    "long": "--regexp"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-s --signal -",
                    "content": "Send this signal instead of SIGTERM.\n",
                    "flag": "-s",
                    "long": "--signal"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-u --user",
                    "content": "Kill only processes the specified user owns.  Command names are optional.\n",
                    "flag": "-u",
                    "long": "--user"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-v --verbose",
                    "content": "Report if the signal was successfully sent.\n",
                    "flag": "-v",
                    "long": "--verbose"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-V --version",
                    "content": "Display version information.\n",
                    "flag": "-V",
                    "long": "--version"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-w --wait",
                    "content": "Wait for all killed processes to die.  killall checks once per second if  any  of  the\nkilled processes still exist and only returns if none are left.  Note that killall may\nwait forever if the signal was ignored, had no effect, or if the process stays in zom‐\nbie state.\n",
                    "flag": "-w",
                    "long": "--wait"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-y --younger-than",
                    "content": "Match only processes that are younger (started after) the time specified.  The time is\nspecified as a float then a unit.  The units are s,m,h,d,w,M,y for  seconds,  minutes,\nhours, days, weeks, Months and years respectively.\n",
                    "flag": "-y",
                    "long": "--younger-than"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-Z --context",
                    "content": "Specify  security context: kill only processes having security context that match with\ngiven extended regular expression pattern.  Must precede other arguments on  the  com‐\nmand line.  Command names are optional.\n",
                    "flag": "-Z",
                    "long": "--context"
                }
            ]
        },
        "FILES": {
            "content": "/proc  location of the proc file system\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "KNOWN BUGS": {
            "content": "Killing  by  file only works for executables that are kept open during execution, i.e. impure\nexecutables can't be killed this way.\n\nBe warned that typing killall name may not have the desired effect on non-Linux systems,  es‐\npecially when done by a privileged user.\n\nkillall  -w  doesn't detect if a process disappears and is replaced by a new process with the\nsame PID between scans.\n\nIf processes change their name, killall may not be able to match them correctly.\n\nkillall has a limit of names that can be specified on the command line.  This figure  is  the\nsize  of  an  unsigned long integer multiplied by 8.  For most 32 bit systems the limit is 32\nand similarly for a 64 bit system the limit is usually 64.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "kill(1), fuser(1), pgrep(1), pidof(1), pkill(1), ps(1), kill(2), regex(3).\n\n\n\npsmisc                                       2021-01-11                                   KILLALL(1)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "killall - kill processes by name",
    "flags": [
        {
            "flag": "-e",
            "long": "--exact",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Require an exact match for very long names. If a command name is longer than 15 char‐ acters, the full name may be unavailable (i.e. it is swapped out). In this case, killall will kill everything that matches within the first 15 characters. With -e, such entries are skipped. killall prints a message for each skipped entry if -v is specified in addition to -e."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-I",
            "long": "--ignore-case",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Do case insensitive process name match."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-g",
            "long": "--process-group",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Kill the process group to which the process belongs. The kill signal is only sent once per group, even if multiple processes belonging to the same process group were found."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-i",
            "long": "--interactive",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Interactively ask for confirmation before killing."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-l",
            "long": "--list",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "List all known signal names."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-n",
            "long": "--ns",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Match against the PID namespace of the given PID. The default is to match against all namespaces."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-o",
            "long": "--older-than",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Match only processes that are older (started before) the time specified. The time is specified as a float then a unit. The units are s,m,h,d,w,M,y for seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years respectively."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-q",
            "long": "--quiet",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Do not complain if no processes were killed."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-r",
            "long": "--regexp",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Interpret process name pattern as a POSIX extended regular expression, per regex(3)."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-s",
            "long": "--signal",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Send this signal instead of SIGTERM."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-u",
            "long": "--user",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Kill only processes the specified user owns. Command names are optional."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-v",
            "long": "--verbose",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Report if the signal was successfully sent."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-V",
            "long": "--version",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Display version information."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-w",
            "long": "--wait",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Wait for all killed processes to die. killall checks once per second if any of the killed processes still exist and only returns if none are left. Note that killall may wait forever if the signal was ignored, had no effect, or if the process stays in zom‐ bie state."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-y",
            "long": "--younger-than",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Match only processes that are younger (started after) the time specified. The time is specified as a float then a unit. The units are s,m,h,d,w,M,y for seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, Months and years respectively."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-Z",
            "long": "--context",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Specify security context: kill only processes having security context that match with given extended regular expression pattern. Must precede other arguments on the com‐ mand line. Command names are optional."
        }
    ],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "kill",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/kill/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "fuser",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fuser/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "pgrep",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pgrep/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "pidof",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pidof/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "pkill",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pkill/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "ps",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ps/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "kill",
            "section": "2",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/kill/2/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "regex",
            "section": "3",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/regex/3/json"
        }
    ]
}