jobs Command in Linux: List and Manage Background Jobs

The jobs command is a Bash built-in that lists all background and suspended processes associated with the current shell session. It shows the job ID, state, and the command that started each job.

This article explains how to use the jobs command, what each option does, and how job specifications work for targeting individual jobs.

Syntax #

The general syntax for the jobs command is:

jobs [OPTIONS] [JOB_SPEC...]

When called without arguments, jobs lists all active jobs in the current shell.

Listing Jobs #

To see all background and suspended jobs, run jobs without any arguments:

jobs

If you have two processes (one running and one stopped), the output will look similar to this:

[1]- Stopped vim notes.txt
[2]+ Running ping google.com &

Each line shows:

• The job number in brackets ([1], [2])
• A + or - sign indicating the current and previous job (more on this below)
• The job state (Running, Stopped, Done)
• The command that started the job

To include the process ID (PID) in the output, use the -l option:

jobs -l

[1]- 14205 Stopped vim notes.txt
[2]+ 14230 Running ping google.com &

The PID is useful when you need to send a signal to a process with the kill
command.

Job States #

Jobs reported by the jobs command can be in one of these states:

• Running — the process is actively executing in the background.
• Stopped — the process has been suspended, typically by pressing Ctrl+Z.
• Done — the process has finished. This state appears once and is then cleared from the list.
• Terminated — the process was killed by a signal.

When a background job finishes, the shell displays its Done status the next time you press Enter or run a command.

Job Specifications #

Job specifications (job specs) let you target a specific job when using commands like fg, bg, kill
, or disown. They always start with a percent sign (%):

• %1, %2, … — refer to a job by its number.
• %% or %+ — the current job (the most recently backgrounded or suspended job, marked with +).
• %- — the previous job (marked with -).
• %string — the job whose command starts with string. For example, %ping matches a job started with ping google.com.
• %?string — the job whose command contains string anywhere. For example, %?google also matches ping google.com.

Here is a practical example. Start two background jobs:

sleep 300 &
ping -c 100 google.com > /dev/null &

Now list them:

jobs

[1]- Running sleep 300 &
[2]+ Running ping -c 100 google.com > /dev/null &

You can bring the sleep job to the foreground by its number:

fg %1

Or by the command prefix:

fg %sleep

Both are equivalent and bring job [1] to the foreground.

Options #

The jobs command accepts the following options:

• -l — List jobs with their process IDs in addition to the normal output.
• -p — Print only the PID of each job’s process group leader. This is useful for scripting.
• -r — List only running jobs.
• -s — List only stopped (suspended) jobs.
• -n — Show only jobs whose status has changed since the last notification.

To show only running jobs:

jobs -r

To get just the PIDs of all jobs:

jobs -p

14205
14230

Using jobs in Interactive Shells #

The jobs command is primarily useful in an interactive shell where job control is enabled. In a regular shell script, job control is usually off, so jobs may return no output even when background processes exist.

If you need to manage background work in a script, track process IDs with $! and use wait with the PID instead of a job spec:

# Start a background task
long_task &
task_pid=$!

# Poll until it finishes
while kill -0 "$task_pid" 2>/dev/null; do
 echo "Task is still running..."
 sleep 5
done

echo "Task complete."

To wait for several background tasks, store their PIDs and pass them to wait:

task_a &
pid_a=$!

task_b &
pid_b=$!

task_c &
pid_c=$!

wait "$pid_a" "$pid_b" "$pid_c"
echo "All tasks complete."

In an interactive shell, you can still wait for a job by its job spec:

wait %1

Quick Reference #

FAQ #

What is the difference between jobs and ps?
jobs shows only the processes started from the current shell session. The ps
command lists all processes running on the system, regardless of which shell started them.

Why does jobs show nothing even though processes are running?
jobs only tracks processes started from the current shell. If you started a process in a different terminal or via a system service, it will not appear in jobs. Use ps aux to find it instead.

How do I stop a background job?
Use kill %N where N is the job number. For example, kill %1 sends SIGTERM to job 1. If the job does not stop, use kill -9 %1 to force-terminate it.

What do the + and - signs mean in jobs output?
The + marks the current job, the one that fg and bg will act on by default. The - marks the previous job. When the current job finishes, the previous job becomes the new current job.

How do I keep a background job running after closing the terminal?
Use nohup
before the command, or disown after backgrounding it. For long-running interactive sessions, consider Screen
or Tmux
.

Conclusion #

The jobs command lists all background and suspended processes in the current shell session. Use it together with fg, bg, and kill to control jobs interactively. For a broader guide on running and managing background processes, see How to Run Linux Commands in the Background
.