How to Kill a Process Based on Arguments in Linux

In Linux, you may encounter situations where you need to terminate a specific process based on its command-line arguments. This can be useful when you want to selectively stop processes that match certain criteria. In this article, we’ll explore different methods to kill a process based on its arguments in Linux.

Using the pgrep and pkill Commands

The pgrep command allows you to search for processes based on various criteria, including command-line arguments. Once you identify the process IDs (PIDs) of the processes you want to terminate, you can use the pkill command to kill them.

Here’s how you can accomplish this:

1. Search for Process IDs with pgrep
2. The pgrep command allows you to search for processes based on their command-line arguments. You can specify a pattern to match against the arguments.

pgrep -f "pattern"

1. Replace "pattern" with the desired argument pattern. The -f option instructs pgrep to match against the full command line.
2. For example, to find processes with the argument “myapp” in the command line, you can use:

pgrep -f "myapp"

1. This will display the PIDs of all processes that match the specified argument pattern.
2. Kill Processes with pkill
3. Once you have the PIDs of the processes you want to terminate, you can use the pkill command to kill them.

pkill -9 -f "pattern"

1. Replace "pattern" with the desired argument pattern. The -9 option sends a SIGKILL signal to forcefully terminate the processes.
2. For example, to kill processes with the argument “myapp” in the command line, you can use:

pkill -9 -f "myapp"

1. This will send the SIGKILL signal to all processes that match the specified argument pattern, effectively terminating them.

Using the killall Command

The killall command is another useful tool for terminating processes based on their command-line arguments. It allows you to send signals to processes by matching their names or command-line arguments.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Kill Processes with killall
2. The killall command can be used to kill processes based on their command-line arguments.

killall -9 -r "pattern"

1. Replace "pattern" with the desired regular expression to match against the command line.
2. For example, to kill processes with the argument “myapp” in the command line, you can use:

killall -9 -r ".*myapp.*"

1. This will send the SIGKILL signal to all processes whose command line matches the specified regular expression.
2. Note that the -9 option is used to send the SIGKILL signal, which forcefully terminates the processes.

Conclusion

In Linux, you can kill a process based on its command-line arguments using various commands such as pgrep, pkill, and killall. These commands provide a convenient way to search for and terminate processes that match specific criteria. By leveraging these tools, you can efficiently manage and control processes on your Linux system based on their command-line arguments.