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Development Tools Console Foundations Processes Killing Processes

Posted by Alex Cevallos
Alex Cevallos
16,551 Points

"No processes found" When using kill *pid* in mac terminal

Hey everyone so I type in ps aux | grep "Safari"

Which I get the PID

but then I enter kill pid and it says "no matching processes found"

Upon further inspection I noticed the PID's increment by the time I type out the kill command.

I was wondering if anyone had a fix for this? Thanks!

Matthew Orndoff
Matthew Orndoff
9,018 Points

You might try 

kill -9 <pid>

In addition to killing the process, this is essentially telling the system to grab it and burn it with fire. It's worked for me in your situation before. Make sure you're targeting the right PID though.

3 Answers

Chris Shaw
Chris Shaw
26,676 Points
Chris Shaw
Chris Shaw
26,676 Points

Hi Alex,

Make sure you're killing the process id that's linked to the following executable path, if you're trying to kill something such as the grep "Safari" command it won't work since that process gets removed automatically upon it running.

/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari
Alex Cevallos
Alex Cevallos
16,551 Points

Ahh! It works! Thank you! Also thanks Matthew Orndoff !

Alex Cevallos
Alex Cevallos
16,551 Points
Alex Cevallos
Alex Cevallos
16,551 Points

Matthew Orndoff Thanks for the help! Unfortunately I keep getting this: http://oi62.tinypic.com/rje8gh.jpg

Filipe Pacheco
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Filipe Pacheco
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 21,416 Points
Filipe Pacheco
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Filipe Pacheco
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 21,416 Points

Hey Chris Upjohn, then how would I specifically find the process id, without having to go through the whole list. I'm making a test right now and trying to terminate Spotify. I type ps aux | grep "spotify" and I get the same error if I try to terminate. How else would I specifically find the process id?

Another question I have. Is it possible to terminate a program just by using its name, without having to use the pid?

Thanks