How do I close a program from the terminal

Question

Suppose for example vlc media player is running and some directory is also opened in file browser. Now I want to close either the file browser or vlc.

One way can be to just click on the cross button on the top left hand corner, but how can I do this using terminal commands?

Solution

Now every file is handled by another program say gedit and folders the same, so to kill [ the program handling that file or folder ] we can use two methods:

1. The program name with:

   pkill <name_of_program>
   

2. use of program PID (process id)

   • find the PID with pgrep <name_of_program>, then
   • kill it with kill <PID>

Information:

man pkill
man kill

Note: When closed this way any unsaved changes will be lost.

Comments

[Ravexina]

What do you mean by file or folder? you mean file manager?

[George Udosen]

I don't know what you mean but may be your referring to using the kill command in the terminal?

[karel]

Possible duplicate of How can I kill a specific X window

[Chai T. Rex]

They want the same behavior as clicking "on the cross button on the top left hand corner", which isn't -9, since -9 doesn't give the program the opportunity to close properly like clicking the "cross button".

[George Udosen]

@Chait.rex now assuming user has saved their files and kills the app would there be anything wrong in that?

[theAlexandrian]

@ChaiT.Rex It can be useful when for example program doesn't respond in the GUI and clicking the cross button doesn't close it.