Comments on: Multitasking from the Linux Command Line + Process Prioritization

By: Chris Jean

Chris Jean — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:41:33 +0000

And as noted in the post, you can use an ampersand after the command to automatically run it in the background. It is common to always run X programs from the terminal in this way:

[user@work ~]$ nautilus &
[1] 4068
[user@work ~]$

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 07:08:12 +0000

Thanks for that info. This is quite handy when running X programs as I kept opening new shells when running an X program, but now it’s easier to just run the program for example

./eclipse

then ctrl+z it

and then

bg %1

and then it keeps running in X and you can switch to it from the taskbar and interact with it, but it also gives you your shell back without having to reload a new shell every time.

Years ago MS-DOS did have a similar command called RUN (I think that’s now been replaced with START) that allowed you to execute commands and then carry on as normal afterwards. But this is far better as you can switch programs from fg to bg with DOS it was just one way (plus on Linux you can kill things when it all gets too much ).

By: Linux Vs. MS-DOS (Yes, Seriously) | PCMech

Linux Vs. MS-DOS (Yes, Seriously) | PCMech — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:00:13 +0000

[...] multi-tasks at the command line is from the use of foreground and background "jobs". This tutorial explains very well how to work with command line Linux multi-tasking, the use of foreground/background/stopped jobs [...]

By: frank

frank — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 07:51:50 +0000

Thanks a lot; i’m new to linux and it helped me big time.

By: larion

larion — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 01:54:01 +0000

extremely helpful, thanks!!!

By: DW

DW — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 03:11:48 +0000

Just what I was looking for, Thanks!

By: learner

learner — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 03:34:06 +0000

Excellent coverage on the topic. Helped me out a lot!

By: gaarai

gaarai — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:13:08 +0000

Thanks techie.

By: techie

techie — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:52:01 +0000

$$ is particularly useful to me as a technician. I will make use of it in the course of my work. Thanks!

By: gaarai

gaarai — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:51:49 +0000

To my knowledge, there isn’t a way to immediately send a process to the background. Everything I’ve seen has always referred to the “ctrl+z” / “bg” combo.