killall
Overview
killall sends a signal to all processes matching a name. Linux (psmisc) killall matches command names; some UNIX variants differ dangerously — always check man killall on the system.
Syntax
killall [options] name...Common Options (psmisc)
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
-i |
Interactive |
-I |
Case-insensitive |
-e |
Exact long names |
-u user |
Only user’s processes |
-s / --signal |
Signal name/number |
-v |
Verbose |
-w |
Wait for death |
-n |
No effect dry-ish (-0 style exists via signal 0) |
Safety
Prefer pkill -x / systemctl for precision. Confirm with pgrep -a name first. Do not use on multi-tenant hosts without filters.
Examples with Explanations
pgrep -a firefox
killall -i firefox
killall -s HUP nginx
killall -u "$USER" myworker
killall -v -w myworker