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How can I run command in bash to kill all python scripts except script called test.py and the grep's pid itself, in case we are using something like ps -ef |grep

I think I can use something like pgrep python to ignore the grep process, but how do I also exclude the test.py script? I know there is an option to do grep -v, is there option to do pgrep -v

Clarification: except grep process- means when we do for example ps -ef |grep test1.pywe get also the grep pid that used to bring this result. I don't want to kill it as this process is no longer exist in the stage that results are shown.

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  • pgrep and pkill are perhaps better solutions than the usual ps ... | grep -v grep or ps ... | grep '[s]omething' tricks. Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 15:49
  • What should happen if different test.py scripts are running in parallel, possibly with varying command lines (e.g., test.py -a, test.py -b, etc.)? Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 15:50
  • serverfault.com/questions/797057/… Commented Dec 15, 2020 at 12:25

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You could use something along these lines:

pkill $(pgrep python | grep -xv $(pgrep test.py))

Working from the inside out, this:

  1. gathers the PID for test.py with pgrep test.py
  2. sends that PID to grep -xv which will exclude it (-v; the -x option says to match the entire line (PID)) from the list gathered by:
  3. pgrep python to gather the list of python scripts you want to kill

You may need to tweak the pgrep's to find exactly the python processes that you want, but that's the basic structure. Adjust it to your situation by working again from the inside out:

  1. run pgrep test.py to ensure that it finds exactly the PID that you're expecting. Look into the pgrep -f option to match the full process name to be more sure.

  2. run pgrep python (or similar) to find the "python scripts" that you want to kill off.

  3. put it all together!

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  • For me, pgrep myscriptname.py doesn't capture any of the instances of the script. I'm on Ubuntu 14.04. Commented Jul 7, 2017 at 8:30
  • It does not make sense to me that you once grep fpr python and once for the script name. How is that supposed to work? Of course, it is a general problem that scripts can be called directly and indirectly. Commented Apr 29, 2023 at 14:40
  • @HaukeLaging I approached the question of "kill all python scripts except script called test.py" in sequence, by finding all of the python scripts (assuming that part works as intended) and then filtering out the one they want to keep. Is your concern around pgrep python not finding "all python scripts"? Commented Apr 30, 2023 at 15:23
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A general hint for the usage of ps with grep, the usual case that you do not want the grep command line to be matched:

ps -ef | grep '[t]est'

Will match test in command lines but test itself does not appear in the grep command line.

getting the PIDs

ps -eo pid,comm | awk 'NF==2 && $2~"\\.py$" && $2!="test.py" { printf "%d ",$1; }'

I just realized that this works for file names up to 16 characters only.

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