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I want know how I can run a command for a specified time say, one minute and if it doesn't complete execution then I should be able to stop it.

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1 Answer

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Use timeout:

NAME
       timeout - run a command with a time limit

SYNOPSIS
       timeout [OPTION] DURATION COMMAND [ARG]...
       timeout [OPTION]

(Just in case, if you don't have this command or if you need to be compatible with very very old shells and have several other utterly specific requirements… have a look at this this question ;-))

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Perfect, thanks for linking to that question. I didn't have timeout on my system but I do now. Just on a side note, is timeout bundled with the majority of linux distributions? – nikhil Oct 24 '11 at 4:28

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