# wait - perldoc - phpman

> **TLDR:** Wait for a process to complete before proceeding.
>
- Wait for a process to finish given its process ID (PID) and return its exit status:
  `wait {{pid}}`
- Wait for all processes known to the invoking shell to finish:
  `wait`
- Wait for a job to finish (run `jobs` to find the job number):
  `wait %{{job_number}}`
- Display help:
  `wait --help`

*Source: tldr-pages*

---

    wait    Behaves like [wait(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/wait/2/markdown) on your system: it waits for a child
            process to terminate and returns the pid of the deceased
            process, or -1 if there are no child processes. The status is
            returned in $? and "${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}". Note that a return
            value of -1 could mean that child processes are being
            automatically reaped, as described in perlipc.

            If you use "wait" in your handler for $SIG{CHLD}, it may
            accidentally wait for the child created by "qx" or "system". See
            perlipc for details.

            Portability issues: "wait" in perlport.