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<h4 class="subsection">24.2.2 Termination Signals</h4>

<p><a name="index-program-termination-signals-2848"></a>
These signals are all used to tell a process to terminate, in one way
or another.  They have different names because they're used for slightly
different purposes, and programs might want to handle them differently.

   <p>The reason for handling these signals is usually so your program can
tidy up as appropriate before actually terminating.  For example, you
might want to save state information, delete temporary files, or restore
the previous terminal modes.  Such a handler should end by specifying
the default action for the signal that happened and then reraising it;
this will cause the program to terminate with that signal, as if it had
not had a handler.  (See <a href="Termination-in-Handler.html#Termination-in-Handler">Termination in Handler</a>.)

   <p>The (obvious) default action for all of these signals is to cause the
process to terminate.

<!-- signal.h -->
<!-- ISO -->
<div class="defun">
&mdash; Macro: int <b>SIGTERM</b><var><a name="index-SIGTERM-2849"></a></var><br>
<blockquote><p><a name="index-termination-signal-2850"></a>The <code>SIGTERM</code> signal is a generic signal used to cause program
termination.  Unlike <code>SIGKILL</code>, this signal can be blocked,
handled, and ignored.  It is the normal way to politely ask a program to
terminate.

        <p>The shell command <code>kill</code> generates <code>SIGTERM</code> by default. 
<a name="index-kill-2851"></a></p></blockquote></div>

<!-- signal.h -->
<!-- ISO -->
<div class="defun">
&mdash; Macro: int <b>SIGINT</b><var><a name="index-SIGINT-2852"></a></var><br>
<blockquote><p><a name="index-interrupt-signal-2853"></a>The <code>SIGINT</code> (&ldquo;program interrupt&rdquo;) signal is sent when the user
types the INTR character (normally <kbd>C-c</kbd>).  See <a href="Special-Characters.html#Special-Characters">Special Characters</a>, for information about terminal driver support for
<kbd>C-c</kbd>. 
</p></blockquote></div>

<!-- signal.h -->
<!-- POSIX.1 -->
<div class="defun">
&mdash; Macro: int <b>SIGQUIT</b><var><a name="index-SIGQUIT-2854"></a></var><br>
<blockquote><p><a name="index-quit-signal-2855"></a><a name="index-quit-signal-2856"></a>The <code>SIGQUIT</code> signal is similar to <code>SIGINT</code>, except that it's
controlled by a different key&mdash;the QUIT character, usually
<kbd>C-\</kbd>&mdash;and produces a core dump when it terminates the process,
just like a program error signal.  You can think of this as a
program error condition &ldquo;detected&rdquo; by the user.

        <p>See <a href="Program-Error-Signals.html#Program-Error-Signals">Program Error Signals</a>, for information about core dumps. 
See <a href="Special-Characters.html#Special-Characters">Special Characters</a>, for information about terminal driver
support.

        <p>Certain kinds of cleanups are best omitted in handling <code>SIGQUIT</code>. 
For example, if the program creates temporary files, it should handle
the other termination requests by deleting the temporary files.  But it
is better for <code>SIGQUIT</code> not to delete them, so that the user can
examine them in conjunction with the core dump. 
</p></blockquote></div>

<!-- signal.h -->
<!-- POSIX.1 -->
<div class="defun">
&mdash; Macro: int <b>SIGKILL</b><var><a name="index-SIGKILL-2857"></a></var><br>
<blockquote><p>The <code>SIGKILL</code> signal is used to cause immediate program termination. 
It cannot be handled or ignored, and is therefore always fatal.  It is
also not possible to block this signal.

        <p>This signal is usually generated only by explicit request.  Since it
cannot be handled, you should generate it only as a last resort, after
first trying a less drastic method such as <kbd>C-c</kbd> or <code>SIGTERM</code>. 
If a process does not respond to any other termination signals, sending
it a <code>SIGKILL</code> signal will almost always cause it to go away.

        <p>In fact, if <code>SIGKILL</code> fails to terminate a process, that by itself
constitutes an operating system bug which you should report.

        <p>The system will generate <code>SIGKILL</code> for a process itself under some
unusual conditions where the program cannot possibly continue to run
(even to run a signal handler). 
</p></blockquote></div>
   <a name="index-kill-signal-2858"></a>
<!-- signal.h -->
<!-- POSIX.1 -->

<div class="defun">
&mdash; Macro: int <b>SIGHUP</b><var><a name="index-SIGHUP-2859"></a></var><br>
<blockquote><p><a name="index-hangup-signal-2860"></a>The <code>SIGHUP</code> (&ldquo;hang-up&rdquo;) signal is used to report that the user's
terminal is disconnected, perhaps because a network or telephone
connection was broken.  For more information about this, see <a href="Control-Modes.html#Control-Modes">Control Modes</a>.

        <p>This signal is also used to report the termination of the controlling
process on a terminal to jobs associated with that session; this
termination effectively disconnects all processes in the session from
the controlling terminal.  For more information, see <a href="Termination-Internals.html#Termination-Internals">Termination Internals</a>. 
</p></blockquote></div>

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