💀 Killing Linux Processes with FZF

📆 2026-04-07 15:50

Managing processes in Linux is easy - until you have too many of them. That's where fzf comes in: a fast, interactive fuzzy finder that makes killing processes almost enjoyable.

😩 The Problem

You run ps aux, get a wall of text, scroll endlessly, copy a PID, and finally run kill. It works, but it's clunky.

⚡ The fzf Way

With fzf, you can search and kill processes in one smooth flow. Even better, you can make it match only what you type.

Add this alias:

fkill='kill $(ps -ef | fzf -e | awk "{print \$2}")'

to your .bashrc file. Remember to source the file for the alias to become available in your current shell.

source .bashrc

Now just run:

fkill

🔍 How It Works

• ps -ef - lists running processes
• fzf -e - filters using exact matching
• awk '{print $2}' - extracts the PID
• kill $(...) - terminates the selected process

💥 Bonus: Multiple Kills

Want to kill more than one process? Add -m to fzf and then search,use Tab to select multiple entries, then press Enter.

fkill='ps -ef | fzf -e -m | awk "{print \$2}" | xargs -r kill'

This command interactively lets you select one or more processes with fzf, extracts their PIDs, and passes them to kill to terminate them. 💀

fzf turns a tedious task into something fast and intuitive. Adding exact matching makes it even more precise and predictable.

Stay sharp. 🐧

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