Killing several processes

Question

I have one command (/usr/lib/R/exec/R pathtoDifferentFiles) being executed with many different arguments (file names). Looking at htop, I see at least 30 processes created,

I want to kill all of them at the same time.

Is there a way to kill processes that apply a command starting with a pattern? (/usr/lib/R/exec/R)

/usr/lib/R/bin/exec/R --slave --no-restore --file=fileName --args. I have many different possible arguments (each process takes a different argument name) — teaLeef, May 19 '14 at 12:24

Sylvain Pineau · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-19T12:38:16.347

8

Try using the pkill command:

pkill --full /usr/lib/R/bin/exec/R

From the pkill man page:

pkill will send the specified signal (by default SIGTERM) to each process.
[...]
  -f, --full
    The pattern is normally only matched against the process name.
    When -f is set, the full command line is
    used.

edited May 19 '14 at 12:38

answered May 19 '14 at 12:18

Sylvain Pineau

62,169

It doesn't work. In fact, my command starts with usr/lib/R/exec/R for each process, but then each process has a different name since my script calls different arguments – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 12:27
Could you please attach in a http://pastebin.ubuntu.com the result of ps -aef with the 30 processes? – Sylvain Pineau May 19 '14 at 12:33
http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/7488331/ – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 12:36

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 19 '14 at 12:34

2

Try this command,

ps aux | awk '/\/usr\/lib\/R\/exec\/R/ {print $2}' | xargs kill

OR

pa aux | awk '/\/usr\/lib\/R\/bin\/exec\/R/ {print $2}' | xargs kill

answered May 19 '14 at 12:34

Avinash Raj

78,556

Because in your question, you mentioned /usr/lib/R/exec/R but in your comment you mentioned /usr/lib/R/bin/exec/R – Avinash Raj May 19 '14 at 12:39
got: unexpected character '' – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 12:43
please post the command you tried along with the output in pastebin – Avinash Raj May 19 '14 at 12:46
http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/7488403/ – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 12:56
Your command should be pa aux | awk '/\/usr\/lib\/R\/bin\/exec\/R/ {print $2}' | xargs kill not ps aux | awk '/\/usr\/lib\/R\/bin/\exec\/R\ {print $2}' | xargs kill – Avinash Raj May 19 '14 at 12:57
Error in /bin/\exec/R\ – Avinash Raj May 19 '14 at 12:58
sorry about that http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/7488439/ – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 13:03
you still don't run the exact command which was posted by me. – Avinash Raj May 19 '14 at 13:04
Next to R it's forward slash not backward slash. – Avinash Raj May 19 '14 at 13:06
1

now it is working. Sorry about the typos – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 13:14

nux · Answer 3 · 2014-05-19T13:21:36.537

1

You can use :

ps -ef| awk '/\/usr\/lib\/R\/bin\/exec\/R/ {print $2}' |xargs kill -9

edited May 19 '14 at 13:21

answered May 19 '14 at 12:18

nux

38,017
35
118
131

How can I specify the pattern when I have different arguments names? /usr/lib/R/exec/R is common for all the processes, but then the command has different names for each process – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 12:26
try this command now – nux May 19 '14 at 12:29
I get: ps -ef|awk '/usr/lib/R/bin/exec/R/{print $2}' |xargs kill -9 awk: line 1: syntax error at or near { Usage: kill pid ... Send SIGTERM to every process listed. kill signal pid ... Send a signal to every process listed. kill -s signal pid ... Send a signal to every process listed. kill -l List all signal names. kill -L List all signal names in a nice table. kill -l signal Convert between signal numbers and names. – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 12:33
try the code now – nux May 19 '14 at 12:36
it doesn't do anything – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 12:44
@teaLeef if already all the process are closed, this doesn't do anything. – Avinash Raj May 19 '14 at 12:50
I tried before closing the processes – teaLeef May 19 '14 at 12:56

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 28 '21 at 23:38

0

The killall command should do what you want:

killall /usr/lib/R/exec/R

answered Jul 28 '21 at 23:38

zwets

12,354

Killing several processes

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