Killing a Specific Process

the_satsuma_man · 03-11-2009, 05:07 PM

How can I kill a specific process in C on linux. I have the PID of the process and want to kill it.

Thanks, Sunil

frieza · 03-11-2009, 05:25 PM

if you want c code to do it
probably
system('kill -9 PID');

the_satsuma_man · 03-11-2009, 05:39 PM

If I have stored the PID as a variable called 'id' can I get use the variable instead of PID.
eg system('kill -9 id');

or will id need to be in quotes as well, eg ('kill -9 'id'');

jlliagre · 03-11-2009, 05:41 PM

I'd rather write:

Code:

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <signal.h>
...
kill(id, SIGTERM);

sundialsvcs · 03-11-2009, 09:42 PM

Be sure to review the documentation in man kill so that you send the appropriate signal (whatever it is...) to the process in question.

Signal #9 (SIGKILL) is an unconditional kill-signal that a process cannot block. It dies, right then and there. But maybe a more "graceful" signal like SIGTERM might be more appropriate, giving the process a reasonable chance to clean-up its own affairs.