TIMEOUT(1)

NAME
timeout - run a command with a time limit

SYNOPSIS
timeout [OPTION] NUMBER[SUFFIX] COMMAND [ARG]...
timeout [OPTION]

DESCRIPTION

Start COMMAND, and kill it if still running after NUMBER seconds. SUFFIX may be `s' for seconds (the default), `m' for minutes, `h' for hours or `d' for days.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

-s, --signal=SIGNAL

    specify the signal to be sent on timeout. SIGNAL may be a name like `HUP' or a number. See `kill -l` for a list of signals

--help
    display this help and exit

--version
    output version information and exit

If the command times out, then we exit with status 124, otherwise the normal exit status of the command is returned. If no signal is specified, the TERM signal is sent. The TERM signal will kill processes which do not catch this signal. For other processes, it may be necessary to use the KILL (9) signal, since this signal cannot be caught.

AUTHOR
Written by Padraig Brady.

REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
kill(1)

The full documentation for timeout is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and timeout programs are properly installed at your site, the command

    info coreutils 'timeout invocation'

should give you access to the complete manual.