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Process Management

5 min read Quiz at the end

View processes with ps aux or top. Kill gracefully with kill PID or forcefully with kill -9 PID. pgrep nginx finds processes by name. htop gives an interactive coloured view with easy killing and sorting.

Managing Processes

ps aux                  # all running processes
top                     # live process monitor
htop                    # better top (install first)

kill 1234               # send SIGTERM
kill -9 1234            # force kill (SIGKILL)
pkill nginx             # kill by name
killall nginx

jobs                    # background jobs
bg %1                   # resume in background
fg %1                   # bring to foreground
nohup command &         # run after logout

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Topic Quiz · 5 questions

Test your understanding before moving on

1. Which command shows all running processes?

💡 ps aux shows a snapshot of all running processes.

2. What does kill -9 PID do?

💡 kill -9 sends SIGKILL — immediately terminates the process with no cleanup.

3. What is a zombie process?

💡 A zombie process has finished but its exit status hasn't been read by the parent.

4. Which signal does kill (without -9) send?

💡 kill PID (default) sends SIGTERM (15) — a polite termination request.

5. nohup command & does what?

💡 nohup prevents the command from being killed when the terminal closes; & backgrounds it.

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Process Management

Managing Processes

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