Kill Process by Name Shell Script

Everyone eventually needs a kill process by name shell script that is safer than typing killall -9 java on production — this lists PIDs first, blocks critical services, and supports a dry-run flag.

What this script does

Takes process name as first argument
--dry-run prints matching PIDs without signaling
Refuses protected names (sshd, systemd, init)
Uses pkill -x when possible, then -f pattern
Logs actions to /var/log/kill-by-name.log

Prerequisites

procps pkill/pgrep
Run as user allowed to signal target process
Root only when killing other users’ processes

Step 1: Save the script

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/kill-by-name.sh
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/kill-by-name.sh

Step 2: Full script (scroll to read)

kill-by-name.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

DRY=0
NAME=""
LOG="/var/log/kill-by-name.log"

PROTECT=(sshd systemd init)

log(){ echo "[$(date '+%F %T')] $*" | tee -a "$LOG"; }

while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
  case "$1" in
    --dry-run) DRY=1; shift ;;
    -*) echo "Unknown option $1"; exit 2 ;;
    *) NAME="$1"; shift; break ;;
  esac
done

NAME="${NAME:-${1:-}}"
[[ -n "$NAME" ]] || { echo "usage: kill-by-name.sh [--dry-run] PROCESS_NAME"; exit 2; }

for p in "${PROTECT[@]}"; do
  if [[ "$NAME" == "$p" ]]; then
    log "REFUSE protected process: $NAME"
    exit 3
  fi
done

pids=$(pgrep -x "$NAME" 2>/dev/null || pgrep -f "$NAME" 2>/dev/null || true)
if [[ -z "$pids" ]]; then
  log "No process matched: $NAME"
  exit 1
fi

log "Matched PIDs: $(echo "$pids" | tr '\n' ' ')"

if (( DRY )); then
  log "DRY-RUN: would send SIGTERM"
  exit 0
fi

pkill -x "$NAME" 2>/dev/null || pkill -f "$NAME"
log "Sent SIGTERM to $NAME"
exit 0

Scroll inside the box to read the full script.

Step 3: Configure settings

Prefer pgrep monitor script before kill loops
Use systemctl stop unit for managed services
Extend PROTECT list for your stack (e.g. dockerd)

Shell script killing a process by name with pkill

Step 4: Test manually

./kill-by-name.sh --dry-run bash

./kill-by-name.sh --dry-run sshd  # should refuse

Kill Process by Name Shell Script Linux (pkill, Safe Confirm)