Synopsis¶

wait [-n | --any] [PID | PROCESS_NAME] ...

Description¶

wait waits for child jobs to complete.

If a PID is specified, the command waits for the job that the process with that process ID belongs to.

If a PROCESS_NAME is specified, the command waits for the jobs that the matched processes belong to.

If neither a pid nor a process name is specified, the command waits for all background jobs.

If the -n or --any flag is provided, the command returns as soon as the first job completes. If it is not provided, it returns after all jobs complete.

The -h or --help option displays help about using this command.

Example¶

sleep 10 &
wait $last_pid

spawns sleep in the background, and then waits until it finishes.

for i in (seq 1 5); sleep 10 &; end
wait

spawns five jobs in the background, and then waits until all of them finish.

for i in (seq 1 5); sleep 10 &; end
hoge &
wait sleep

spawns five sleep jobs and hoge in the background, and then waits until all sleeps finish, and doesn’t wait for hoge.