I am using bash to start several instances of one python program, like this:
python example.py -id $i
where $i is the id given to the instance. All the processes are started on the same user, and imagine I am unable of keeping track of the process IDs. Would it be possible to kill the specific instance just by the command (with id) that called it? For example something like pkill 'python example.py -id 2 which obviously doesn't work.
kill $(ps -ef | grep '[s]earch-string' | sed -re 's/[[:blank:]]+/\t/g' | cut -f2)
ps -ef : gets process list with argumentsgrep : filters for the record you want the [] is to stop grep finding its self.sed -re 's/[[:blank:]]+/\t/g' : converts space to a single tabcut -f2 : extracts the pid field
ps: unknown option -- f usage: ps [-AaceHhjkLlmrSTuvwx] [-M core] [-N system] [-O fmt] [-o fmt] [-p pid] [-t tty] [-U username] [-W swap]
– Kusalananda♦
Jul 30 '16 at 13:14
ps is not very portable, there is one for posix, one for bsd, one for system-v. The Gnu one looks like it tries to be compatible with all. If you want help with ps then you will have to tell us which OS and version of ps.
– ctrl-alt-delor
Aug 11 '16 at 16:25
Using pkill:
pkill -fx 'python example.py -id 2'
The -f option to pkill makes matching happen against the full command line, not just the process name, and -x forces the pattern to match the full command exactly, not just any substring of it (similarly as with grep -x). You'll need -x to avoid matching command lines that possibly had further digits at the end, like 20 or 203.
pkill -f python example.py -id 2. The man page for pkill explains the-fflag (seeman pkill). And generally, it's a good idea to quote your variables ("$i"instead of just$i). – roaima Jul 25 '16 at 21:42jobscommand and thenkill %2or whatnot may be of use, to use the shell job control functionality. – thrig Jul 25 '16 at 22:21