timeout

(1)

run a command with a time limit

User commands 7 optionscoreutils 9.7-3

timeout [OPTION] DURATION COMMAND [ARG]... timeout [OPTION]

Options

-v--verbose

diagnose to stderr any signal sent upon timeout

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

-f--foreground

when not running timeout directly from a shell prompt, allow COMMAND to read from the TTY and get TTY signals; in this mode, children of COMMAND will not be timed out

-k--kill-afterDURATION

also send a KILL signal if COMMAND is still running this long after the initial signal was sent

-p--preserve-status

exit with the same status as COMMAND, even when the command times out

-s--signalSIGNAL

specify the signal to be sent on timeout; SIGNAL may be a name like 'HUP' or a number; see 'kill -l' for a list of signals

DESCRIPTION

Start COMMAND, and kill it if still running after DURATION.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

-f, --foreground

: when not running timeout directly from a shell prompt, allow COMMAND to read from the TTY and get TTY signals; in this mode, children of COMMAND will not be timed out

-k, --kill-after=DURATION

: also send a KILL signal if COMMAND is still running this long after the initial signal was sent

-p, --preserve-status

: exit with the same status as COMMAND, even when the command times out

-s, --signal=SIGNAL

: specify the signal to be sent on timeout; SIGNAL may be a name like 'HUP' or a number; see 'kill -l' for a list of signals

-v, --verbose: diagnose to stderr any signal sent upon timeout
--help: display this help and exit
--version: output version information and exit

DURATION is a floating point number with an optional suffix: 's' for seconds (the default), 'm' for minutes, 'h' for hours or 'd' for days. A duration of 0 disables the associated timeout.

Upon timeout, send the TERM signal to COMMAND, if no other SIGNAL specified. The TERM signal kills any process that does not block or catch that signal. It may be necessary to use the KILL signal, since this signal can't be caught.

Exit status:

124: if COMMAND times out, and --preserve-status is not specified
125: if the timeout command itself fails
126: if COMMAND is found but cannot be invoked
127: if COMMAND cannot be found
137: if COMMAND (or timeout itself) is sent the KILL (9) signal (128+9)
-: the exit status of COMMAND otherwise

BUGS

Some platforms don't currently support timeouts beyond the year 2038.

AUTHOR

Written by Padraig Brady.

REPORTING BUGS

GNU coreutils online help: https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/
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