Obtaining PID from Process Name

tmeehan · 06-10-2003, 04:50 PM

Does anyone know how I can derive a process ID given only it's name. The big picture is that I want to kill a process but I only know the name, not the process ID. It seems that "kill" requires the PID.

Any and all help would be appreciated.

Thanks

grrl_geek · 06-10-2003, 04:59 PM

Well, you can do this in the Terminal:

ps -auwx | grep 'Name of Process'

jbc · 06-10-2003, 05:19 PM

Might want to read this thread for ideas:

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...threadid=11755

Englabenny · 06-10-2003, 05:58 PM

Read the above linked thread, and if it's too long or not understandable, just read the last post in that thread.

It is really easy using just killall.

jbc · 06-10-2003, 07:19 PM

Ditto what Englabenny said. Thought you might want some background though...

greggo · 06-11-2003, 06:28 PM

here's an AppleScript that may help...

Code:

display dialog "Enter the Name of the Application You Wish to Kill" default answer ""
set appName to (text returned of result)
do shell script "ps ax | grep -i " & appName & " | grep -v grep | cut -c 1-6"
set pNum to result
set prName to do shell script "ps cax | grep -i " & appName & " | awk '{print $5, $6}'"
display dialog "Kill Application  " & prName & " PID#" & pNum buttons {"Kill It!", "Cancel"} 
if button returned of result is "Kill It!" then
	try
		do shell script "kill -15 " & pNum
	on error
		display dialog "The Process Named \"" & appName & "\" Is Not Running"
	end try
end if

06-10-2003, 04:50 PM	#1
tmeehan Triple-A Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 65	Obtaining PID from Process Name Does anyone know how I can derive a process ID given only it's name. The big picture is that I want to kill a process but I only know the name, not the process ID. It seems that "kill" requires the PID. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks

06-10-2003, 04:59 PM	#2
grrl_geek Major Leaguer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Berkeley, CA Posts: 270	Well, you can do this in the Terminal: ps -auwx \| grep 'Name of Process'

06-10-2003, 05:19 PM	#3
jbc All Star Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Chico, CA Posts: 686	Might want to read this thread for ideas: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...threadid=11755

06-10-2003, 05:58 PM	#4
Englabenny Triple-A Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 55	Read the above linked thread, and if it's too long or not understandable, just read the last post in that thread. It is really easy using just killall.

06-10-2003, 07:19 PM	#5
jbc All Star Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Chico, CA Posts: 686	Ditto what Englabenny said. Thought you might want some background though...