wait.1 (2010 09)

w
wait(1) wait(1)
NAME
wait - await process completion
SYNOPSIS
wait [ pid ]
DESCRIPTION
If no argument is specified,
wait waits until all processes (started with &) of the current shell have com-
pleted, and reports on abnormal terminations. If a numeric argument pid is given and is the process
ID
of a background process, wait waits until that process has completed. Otherwise, if pid is not a back-
ground process,
wait exits without waiting for any processes to complete.
Because the
wait() system call must be executed in the parent process, the shell itself executes
wait
without creating a new process (see wait (2)).
Command-Line Arguments
wait supports the following command line arguments:
pid The unsigned decimal integer process ID
of a command, whose termination wait is to
wait for.
WARNINGS
Some processes in a 2-or-more-stage pipeline may not be children of the shell, and thus cannot be waited
for.
SEE ALSO
csh(1), ksh(1), sh-posix(1), sh(1), wait(2).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
wait: SVID2, SVID3, XPG2, XPG3, XPG4, POSIX.2
HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010 1 Hewlett-Packard Company 1

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