Windows
Linux
Services & Processes
Processes
Windows taskkill equivalent in Linux
Ends a running process by its process ID (PID) or name.
Windows
→
taskkill
Linux equivalents
kill / killall
kill / killall
kill / killall
Overview
What this command does
Ends a running process by its process ID (PID) or name.
Migration tip: Use
ps aux | grep appname to find the PID first. kill -9 is the force kill — it can't be ignored by the process, like End Task in Windows.Practical tasks
Common use cases
Stop/terminate a process
Ends a running process by its process ID (PID) or name.
kill PID
Send termination signal (graceful)
kill -9 PID
Force kill — cannot be ignored
killall firefox
Kill all processes named 'firefox'
Ready to run
Copyable Linux commands
Review paths, device names, package names and permissions before running any command.
ps aux | grep firefox
kill 4892
kill -9 4892
killall firefox
Walkthrough
Examples with explanations
# Windows: taskkill /PID 1234 /F
# Step 1: Find the process ID
ps aux | grep firefox
john 4892 ... firefox
# Step 2: Kill it
kill 4892 # graceful stop (tries nicely first)
kill -9 4892 # force kill if graceful fails
# Kill by name:
killall firefox # kill all firefox processesReference
Common options and variations
| Command or option | Use |
|---|---|
kill PID | Send termination signal (graceful) |
kill -9 PID | Force kill — cannot be ignored |
killall firefox | Kill all processes named 'firefox' |
pkill -f pattern | Kill by matching command pattern |
Distro differences
Debian/Ubuntu vs Fedora vs Arch
This command is the same on Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch Linux when the relevant tool is installed.
| Distribution | Package manager / base | Equivalent command | Difference to notice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian/Ubuntu | same command | kill / killall |
Same command on this distribution. |
| Fedora | same command | kill / killall |
Same command on this distribution. |
| Arch | same command | kill / killall |
Same command on this distribution. |
Keep learning