What is the alternative command to killall in Linux distributions?

Alternative Command to killall in Linux

In Linux, the killall command is used to terminate all running processes with a specified name. However, there are alternative commands that can be used to achieve similar functionality, depending on the specific requirements and the Linux distribution you are using.

pkill Command

One of the most common alternatives to killall is the pkill command. The pkill command allows you to terminate processes based on their name, user, or other process-related criteria. Here's an example of how to use the pkill command to kill all processes with a specific name:

pkill -f process_name

The -f option tells pkill to match the full command line, not just the process name.

killall5 Command

Another alternative to killall is the killall5 command, which is part of the sysvinit-utils package. The killall5 command is designed to be a more robust and reliable version of the killall command, and it can be used to kill processes across different runlevels. Here's an example of how to use the killall5 command:

killall5 -s SIGTERM process_name

The -s option specifies the signal to send to the processes, in this case, the SIGTERM signal, which is the default signal used to terminate a process.

pgrep and pkill Commands

In addition to the pkill command, you can also use the pgrep command to find the process ID (PID) of a running process, and then use the kill command to terminate it. Here's an example:

pgrep process_name | xargs kill -9

The pgrep command finds the PID of the process, and the xargs command passes the PIDs to the kill command, which terminates the processes with the SIGKILL signal.

Comparison of killall, pkill, and killall5

Here's a comparison of the three commands:

In general, the pkill command is the most flexible and widely used alternative to killall, as it allows for more granular control over the processes to be terminated. The killall5 command is a more robust and reliable version of killall, but it is less commonly used.

Overall, the choice of which command to use will depend on the specific requirements of your use case and the Linux distribution you are using.