timeout(1) User Commands timeout(1)
NAME
timeout - run a command with a time limit
SYNOPSIS
timeout [OPTION]... DURATION COMMAND [ARG]...
DESCRIPTION
Start COMMAND, and kill it if still running after DURATION.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options
too.
-f, --foreground
when not running timeout directly from a shell prompt, allow
COMMAND to read from the TTY and get TTY signals; in this mode,
children of COMMAND will not be timed out
-k, --kill-after=DURATION
also send a KILL signal if COMMAND is still running this long
after the initial signal was sent
-p, --preserve-status
exit with the same status as COMMAND, even when the command
times out
-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
-v, --verbose
diagnose to standard error any signal sent upon timeout
--help display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
DURATION is a floating point number with an optional suffix: 's' for
seconds (the default), 'm' for minutes, 'h' for hours or 'd' for days.
A duration of 0 disables the associated timeout.
Upon timeout, send the TERM signal to COMMAND, if no other SIGNAL
specified. The TERM signal kills any process that does not block or
catch that signal. It may be necessary to use the KILL signal, since
this signal can't be caught.
Exit status:
124 if COMMAND times out, and --preserve-status is not specified
125 if the timeout command itself fails
126 if COMMAND is found but cannot be invoked
127 if COMMAND cannot be found
137 if COMMAND (or timeout itself) is sent the KILL (9) signal
(128+9)
- the exit status of COMMAND otherwise
BUGS
Some platforms don't currently support timeouts beyond the year 2038.
AUTHOR
Written by Padraig Brady.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU
GPL version 3 or later <https://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)
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/timeout>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) timeout invocation'
GNU coreutils 9.10 March 2026 timeout(1)
coreutils 9.10 - Generated Thu Apr 2 18:41:43 CDT 2026