github.com/kaisenlinux/docker.io@v0.0.0-20230510090727-ea55db55fac7/cli/docs/reference/commandline/kill.md (about) 1 --- 2 title: "kill" 3 description: "The kill command description and usage" 4 keywords: "container, kill, signal" 5 --- 6 7 # kill 8 9 ```markdown 10 Usage: docker kill [OPTIONS] CONTAINER [CONTAINER...] 11 12 Kill one or more running containers 13 14 Options: 15 --help Print usage 16 -s, --signal string Signal to send to the container (default "KILL") 17 ``` 18 19 ## Description 20 21 The `docker kill` subcommand kills one or more containers. The main process 22 inside the container is sent `SIGKILL` signal (default), or the signal that is 23 specified with the `--signal` option. You can reference a container by its 24 ID, ID-prefix, or name. 25 26 The `--signal` (or `-s` shorthand) flag sets the system call signal that is sent 27 to the container. This signal can be a signal name in the format `SIG<NAME>`, for 28 instance `SIGINT`, or an unsigned number that matches a position in the kernel's 29 syscall table, for instance `2`. 30 31 While the default (`SIGKILL`) signal will terminate the container, the signal 32 set through `--signal` may be non-terminal, depending on the container's main 33 process. For example, the `SIGHUP` signal in most cases will be non-terminal, 34 and the container will continue running after receiving the signal. 35 36 > **Note** 37 > 38 > `ENTRYPOINT` and `CMD` in the *shell* form run as a child process of 39 > `/bin/sh -c`, which does not pass signals. This means that the executable is 40 > not the container’s PID 1 and does not receive Unix signals. 41 42 ## Examples 43 44 45 ### Send a KILL signal to a container 46 47 The following example sends the default `SIGKILL` signal to the container named 48 `my_container`: 49 50 ```console 51 $ docker kill my_container 52 ``` 53 54 ### <a name="signal"></a> Send a custom signal to a container (--signal) 55 56 The following example sends a `SIGHUP` signal to the container named 57 `my_container`: 58 59 ```console 60 $ docker kill --signal=SIGHUP my_container 61 ``` 62 63 64 You can specify a custom signal either by _name_, or _number_. The `SIG` prefix 65 is optional, so the following examples are equivalent: 66 67 ```console 68 $ docker kill --signal=SIGHUP my_container 69 $ docker kill --signal=HUP my_container 70 $ docker kill --signal=1 my_container 71 ``` 72 73 Refer to the [`signal(7)`](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/signal.7.html) 74 man-page for a list of standard Linux signals.