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TIMEOUT(1)                  General Commands Manual                 TIMEOUT(1)

NAME
     timeout - run a command with a time limit

SYNOPSIS
     timeout [--signal sig | -s sig] [--preserve-status | -p]
             [--kill-after time | -k time] [--foreground | -f] <duration>
             <command> <args ...>

DESCRIPTION
     timeout starts the command with its args.  If command is still running
     after duration, it is killed.  By default, SIGTERM is sent.

     -p, --preserve-status       Always exits with the same status as command
                                 even if it times out.

     -f, --foreground            Do not propagate timeout to the command
                                 children.

     -s sig, --signal sig        Specify the signal to send on timeout.  By
                                 default, SIGTERM is sent.

     -k time, --kill-after time  Send a second kill signal if command is still
                                 running after time after the first signal was
                                 sent.

DURATION FORMAT
     duration and time can be integer or decimal numbers.  Values without unit
     symbols are interpreted as seconds.

     Supported unit symbols are:
     s       seconds
     m       minutes
     h       hours
     d       days

EXIT STATUS
     If the timeout was not reached, the exit status of command is returned.

     If the timeout was reached and --preserve-status is set, the exit status
     of command is returned.  If --preserve-status is not set, an exit status
     of 124 is returned.

     If command exits after receiving a signal, the exit status returned is
     the signal number plus 128.

SEE ALSO
     kill(1), signal(3)

HISTORY
     A timeout utility appeared in a development branch of FreeBSD 11 and was
     imported into NetBSD 7.  The FreeBSD work is compatible with GNU timeout
     by Padraig Brady, from GNU Coreutils 8.21.  The timeout utility first
     appeared in GNU Coreutils 7.0.

NetBSD 10.99                   December 13, 2022                  NetBSD 10.99