The pgrep command is a powerful utility in Linux and Unix-like systems used to search for processes based on their names or other attributes. It's a convenient way to find the Process IDs (PIDs) of running programs, which can then be used for monitoring or termination.

Find Process IDs (PIDs)

The primary function of pgrep is to locate PIDs. By providing a pattern, it scans the list of running processes and returns the PIDs of those that match.

# To get a list of PIDs matching <pattern>:
pgrep <pattern>

Filter Processes by Full Command Line

Using the -f option allows pgrep to match the pattern against the entire command line of the process, not just its name. This is useful for finding processes that might have similar names but different arguments.

# To kill all PIDs matching <pattern> in the full command line:
pgrep -f <pattern> | xargs kill

Advanced Process Management

pgrep is often used in conjunction with other command-line tools like xargs and kill to automate process management tasks. This allows for efficient handling of multiple processes simultaneously.

Related Commands and Resources

• pgrep man page
• kill command documentation
• GNU Grep Utilities