Linux / Unix: jobs Command Examples

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/unix-linux-jobs-command-examples-usage-syntax

I am new Linux and Unix user. How do I show the active jobs on Linux or Unix-like systems using BASH/KSH/TCSH or POSIX based shell? How can I display status of jobs in the current session on Unix/Linux?

Job control is nothing but the ability to stop/suspend the execution of processes (command) and continue/resume their execution as per your requirements. This is done using your operating system and shell such as bash/ksh or POSIX shell.

jobs command details
Description	Show the active jobs in shell
Category	Processes Management
Difficulty	Easy
Root privileges	No
Estimated completion time	10m
Contents Syntax Examples Show process IDs Show only jobs that have exited since last notified Show process IDs only Only show running jobs Only show stopped jobs Options Video See also

You shell keeps a table of currently executing jobs and can be displayed with jobs command.

Purpose

Displays status of jobs in the current shell session.

Syntax

The basic syntax is as follows:
jobs
OR
jobs jobID
OR
jobs [options] jobID

Starting few jobs for demonstration purpose

Before you start using jobs command, you need to start couple of jobs on your system. Type the following commands to start jobs:

## Start xeyes, calculator, and gedit text editor ###
xeyes &
gnome-calculator &
gedit fetch-stock-prices.py &
 

Finally, run ping command in foreground:

 
ping www.cyberciti.biz
 

To suspend ping command job hit the Ctrl-Z key sequence.

jobs command examples

To display the status of jobs in the current shell, enter:
$ jobs
Sample outputs:

[1]   7895 Running                 gpass &
[2]   7906 Running                 gnome-calculator &
[3]-  7910 Running                 gedit fetch-stock-prices.py &
[4]+  7946 Stopped                 ping cyberciti.biz

To display the process ID or jobs for the job whose name begins with "p," enter:
$ jobs -p %p
OR
$ jobs %p
Sample outputs:

[4]-  Stopped                 ping cyberciti.biz

The character % introduces a job specification. In this example, you are using the string whose name begins with suspended command such as %ping.

How do I show process IDs in addition to the normal information?

Pass the -l(lowercase L) option to jobs command for more information about each job listed, run:
$ jobs -l
Sample outputs:

Fig.01: Displaying the status of jobs in the shell

How do I list only processes that have changed status since the last notification?

First, start a new job as follows:
$ sleep 100 &
Now, only show jobs that have stopped or exited since last notified, type:
$ jobs -n
Sample outputs:

[5]-  Running                 sleep 100 &

Display lists process IDs (PIDs) only

Pass the -p option to jobs command to display PIDs only:
$ jobs -p
Sample outputs:

7895
7906
7910
7946
7949

How do I display only running jobs?

Pass the -r option to jobs command to display only running jobs only, type:
$ jobs -r
Sample outputs:

[1]   Running                 gpass &
[2]   Running                 gnome-calculator &
[3]-  Running                 gedit fetch-stock-prices.py &

How do I display only jobs that have stopped?

Pass the -s option to jobs command to display only stopped jobs only, type:
$ jobs -s
Sample outputs:

[4]+  Stopped                 ping cyberciti.biz

To resume the ping cyberciti.biz job by entering the following bg command:
$ bg %4

jobs command options

From the bash(1) command man page:

Option	Description
-l	Show process id's in addition to the normal information.
-p	Show process id's only.
-n	Show only processes that have changed status since the last notification are printed.
-r	Restrict output to running jobs only.
-s	Restrict output to stopped jobs only.
-x	COMMAND is run after all job specifications that appear in ARGS have been replaced with the process ID of that job's process group leader./td>

A note about /usr/bin/jobs and shell builtin

Type the following type command to find out whether jobs is part of shell, external command or both:
$ type -a jobs
Sample outputs:

jobs is a shell builtin
jobs is /usr/bin/jobs

In almost all cases you need to use the jobs command that is implemented as a BASH/KSH/POSIX shell built-in. The /usr/bin/jobs command can not be used in the current shell. The /usr/bin/jobs command operates in a different environment and does not share the parent bash/ksh's shells understanding of jobs.

Related media

This tutorials is also available in a quick video format:

See also

• bash(1) Linux/Unix command man page

Category	List of Unix and Linux commands
File Management	cat
Network Utilities	dig • host • ip
Processes Management	bg • chroot • disown • fg • jobs • kill • killall • pwdx • time • pidof • pstree
Searching	whereis • which
User Information	groups • id • last • lastcomm • logname • users • w • who • whoami • lid • members