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Background Jobs and Job Control

Linux allows users to run multiple tasks simultaneously through multitasking. Jobs can run in the foreground or background. Foreground jobs block other tasks from using keyboard/monitor while background jobs run freely without blocking. Users can control jobs through commands like fg, bg, jobs, stop, and kill along with job numbers or process IDs.

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136 views

Background Jobs and Job Control

Linux allows users to run multiple tasks simultaneously through multitasking. Jobs can run in the foreground or background. Foreground jobs block other tasks from using keyboard/monitor while background jobs run freely without blocking. Users can control jobs through commands like fg, bg, jobs, stop, and kill along with job numbers or process IDs.

Uploaded by

pprevalkar
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODP, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Background Jobs and Job

Control
Jobs

● A job is a user task run on the computer.


● Reading, sorting etc are the examples of jobs.
● In LINUX, a job is a command or set of
command entered on one command line.
Foreground and background
jobs
● LINUX is a multitasking system.
● To allow multiple task, LINUX defines two types
of jobs:
● Foreground jobs
● Background jobs
Foreground jobs

● What is foreground job?


● Suspending a foreground job: ctrl+z
● To resume it: fg
● Terminating a foreground job: ctrl+c
● After the job is terminated, we key Return to
activate the command line prompt.
Background jobs

● Jobs run in the background free the


keyboard and monitor.
● foreground and background jobs share the
keyboard and monitor.
● Any messages sent to the monitor by the
background job will therefore be mingled
with the messages from the foreground job.
Suspending, Restarting and terminating
background jobs:

● To start a process running in the


background, add an ampersand (&) at the
end of the statement.
● To suspend background job: stop
● To restart it: bg
● To terminate :kill
All three commands require the job number,
prefaced with a percent sign (%).
● When there is only one job, the fg and bg
commands do not require a job number
Moving between background and foreground
jobs:
● To move a job between the foreground and
background, the job must be suspended.
● from the suspended state to the
background with bg command.
● To move a background job to the
foreground, we use fg command.
Jobs command

● To list the current jobs and their status, we


use the jobs command.
● For each job, it shows the job number,
currency, and status, running or stopped.
Currency flag

● + and – signs are called as currency flags.


● The plus indicates which job is default is a
command is entered without a job number.
● The minus indicates which job will be the
default if the first job were to complete.
Using job numbers

● The job number is preceded by a percent


sign(%) and is separated from the
command by one space.
● default job(+) can be referred to as %+ or
%%.
● The job with minus currency can be
referred to as %-.
● All of the following job references are valid:
fg %3 bg%+ stop %% kill %-
Jobs States

● A job may be in one of three states: foreground,


background or stopped
● When job starts, it runs in foreground.
● A terminated job no longer exists.
Process ID

● Job numbers are related to the user session


and the terminal; they are not global.
● Process identifier i.e. PIDs are global in scope.
● ps command displays the current PIDs.

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