man > timeout(1)

TIMEOUT(1)                                  User Commands                                 TIMEOUT(1)

NAME
       timeout - run a command with a time limit

SYNOPSIS
       timeout [OPTION] DURATION COMMAND [ARG]...
       timeout [OPTION]

DESCRIPTION
       Start COMMAND, and kill it if still running after DURATION.

       Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

       --preserve-status

              exit with the same status as COMMAND, even when the

              command times out

       --foreground

              when not running timeout directly from a shell prompt,

              allow COMMAND to read from the TTY and get TTY signals; in this mode, children of COM‐
              MAND will not be timed out

       -k, --kill-after=DURATION

              also send a KILL signal if COMMAND is still running

              this long after the initial signal was sent

       -s, --signal=SIGNAL

              specify the signal to be sent on timeout;

              SIGNAL may be a name like 'HUP' or a number; see 'kill -l' for a list of signals

       -v, --verbose
              diagnose to stderr any signal sent upon timeout

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

       DURATION  is  a floating point number with an optional suffix: 's' for seconds (the default),
       'm' for minutes, 'h' for hours or 'd' for days.  A duration  of  0  disables  the  associated
       timeout.

       Upon timeout, send the TERM signal to COMMAND, if no other SIGNAL specified.  The TERM signal
       kills  any  process that does not block or catch that signal.  It may be necessary to use the
       KILL signal, since this signal can't be caught.

   Exit status:
       124    if COMMAND times out, and --preserve-status is not specified

       125    if the timeout command itself fails

       126    if COMMAND is found but cannot be invoked

       127    if COMMAND cannot be found

       137    if COMMAND (or timeout itself) is sent the KILL (9) signal (128+9)

       -      the exit status of COMMAND otherwise

BUGS
       Some platforms don't currently support timeouts beyond the year 2038.

AUTHOR
       Written by Padraig Brady.

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3  or  later
       <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This  is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to
       the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
       kill(1)

       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/timeout>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) timeout invocation'

GNU coreutils 9.4                           January 2026                                  TIMEOUT(1)