Linux Terminal Command: killall

The killall command is an essential tool in Process & Job Control. In this tutorial, we will explore what killall does, look at everyday examples, and cover advanced options to supercharge your command-line workflow.

Concept & Explanation

The killall command sends a termination signal to all active processes running a specific command name.

Common Options & Syntax

killall [options] [arguments]

Here are the most common flags used with killall:

Simple Usage: Basic default commands.
Detailed View: Shows diagnostic information.
Advanced Actions: Can chain parameters for scripting.

1. Interactive Example (Simple)

Here is how most people run the command:

# Example
killall firefox

What it does: Closes all running instances of Firefox.

2. Power-User Example (Advanced)

For scripting and advanced diagnostics, use this configuration:

# Advanced
killall -w -I -9 nginx

What it does: Forcefully terminates all Nginx processes, ignores case (-I), and waits (-w) until all instances are fully stopped.

⚙️ Warning & Common Pitfalls

[!WARNING] On some Unix systems (like Solaris), killall terminates all processes on the system, rebooting the machine. Check command availability before using it on non-Linux platforms.

Here are some related posts on cli_tty1 you might want to check out:

ps : Report a snapshot of the current processes.
top : Display Linux processes in real time.
htop : Interactive process viewer.