SoFunction
Updated on 2025-04-13

Linux uses the pidof command to quickly find process id

Introduction

pidofCommands are used to findLinuxThe process of running programsID (PID). It helps manage and control processes.

Basic syntax

pidof [options] program_name

Common options

  • -s: Single time - Indicates that the program returns only one pid

  • -q: Quiet mode, suppresses any output and sets exit status only accordingly

  • -w: Also displays processes without visible command lines (such as kernel worker threads)

  • -x: This will cause the program to return to running the specified script as wellshellProcess ID

  • -o <omitpid>:TellpidofIgnore processes with this process ID

  • -t: Show all thread ids instead of pid

  • -S <separator>: Use the specified delimiter as the delimiter between pids. Use only if multiple pids are printed for the program

Example usage

Get the PID of the running program

pidof bash

# Sample output: 1234

Get the PID of multiple instances

pidof firefox

# If multiple instances are running, it will return multiple PIDs: 4567 8901

Get the PID of the system daemon

pidof systemd

Show only one PID

pidof -s python

Exclude specific PIDs

pidof -o 4567 firefox

Includes Shell scripts

pidof -x 

# Find the PID of scripts and programs

Use ps with grep

ps aux | grep nginx | grep -v grep

Using pgrap

pgrep nginx

Use ps with awk

ps -e | awk '/nginx/ {print $1}'

Use pidof to terminate the process

kill $(pidof firefox)

Restart the process

kill -HUP $(pidof nginx)

This is the end of this article about Linux using the pidof command to quickly find process id. For more related content on Linux pidof search process id, please search for my previous articles or continue browsing the related articles below. I hope everyone will support me in the future!