jobs

Overview

The jobs command displays the status of jobs in the current shell. It lists the jobs that are running in the background or stopped.

Syntax

jobs [options] [jobspec...]

Common Options

Option Description
-l List PIDs
-p List PIDs only
-n New jobs
-r Running jobs
-s Stopped jobs
-x command Execute command

Job States

State Description
Running Currently executing
Stopped Suspended
Done Completed
Terminated Killed
Suspended Paused

Key Use Cases

  1. Job monitoring
  2. Process control
  3. Background tasks
  4. Shell management
  5. Task scheduling

Examples with Explanations

Example 1: List Jobs

jobs

Show all jobs

Example 2: Show PIDs

jobs -l

List with process IDs

Example 3: Running Jobs

jobs -r

Show running jobs

Common Usage Patterns

  1. Check status:

    jobs -l

  2. Background job:

    command & jobs

  3. Stopped jobs:

    jobs -s

Job Control

  1. Background (&)
  2. Foreground (fg)
  3. Stop (Ctrl-Z)
  4. Continue (bg)
  5. Kill (kill)

Additional Resources

Best Practices

  1. Monitor jobs
  2. Use job numbers
  3. Check status
  4. Clean up jobs
  5. Document tasks

Security Considerations

  1. Job ownership
  2. Process control
  3. Resource usage
  4. Shell access
  5. User permissions

Troubleshooting

  1. Hung jobs
  2. Zombie processes
  3. Status errors
  4. Shell issues
  5. Resource limits

Job Notation

  1. %n (job number)
  2. %string (prefix)
  3. %?string (contains)
  4. %+ (current)
  5. %- (previous)