Kill a process with a specific "Command Line" from command line

Question

Is there a command line utility that kills all processes with a specific command line?

E.g. kill all processes named "java.exe" with a command line that contains "-jar selenium-server.jar". This is possible through process explorer.

Solution 1

In Windows XP you can do this easily using WMIC, the WMI Console. From a command prompt, type the following:

wmic Path win32_process Where "CommandLine Like '%-jar selenium-server.jar%'" Call Terminate

Edit:

I replaced the alias 'process' by it full path ('path win32_process') as is Aviator's port. Note: This alias may not be declared on every OS.

Solution 2

If you are using a Windows version which has WMIC command in it. You can try this

wmic path win32_process Where "Caption Like '%java.exe%' AND CommandLine Like '%selenium.jar%'" get ProcessId|more +1

The more +1 removes first line containing the header and prints the PID alone. If there are more than one java process containing selenium.jar then this will return one PID per line.

Solution 3

Simple one-liner in powershell:

(Get-WmiObject win32_process -filter "Name='java.exe' AND CommandLine LIKE '%-jar selenium-server.jar%'").Terminate()

Solution 4

I believe you could do this with PowerShell using Get-Process and the StartInfo.Arguments on the process you want.

$procs = Get-Process java
foreach($proc in $procs) 
{
    if($proc.StartInfo.Arguments -contains "-jar selenium-server.jar")
    {
        kill $proc
    }
}

(I haven't tested that completely, but you should be able to tweak it to make it work)

Solution 5

Powershell:-

$oProcs = get-process explorer;foreach ($oProc in $oProcs){if ($oProc.Path.Contains('C:\Windows')) {Stop-Process $oProc.Id}}

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Comments

[Taken]

I believe both the answers below are wrong, as you arent just asking how to kill a .exe process, you are asking how to kill a .exe process which contains a specific command line

[Nathan Fellman]

Are you only talking about Windows? Your examples and the supplied answers make it seem like you are, but you didn't specify this.

[100rabh]

Can you explain "how this is possible through Process Explorer?" I just launched a java - jar<app-name> and it shows only java.exe

[akira]

i bet he/she meant "sysinternals process explorer"

[ripper234]

Sysinternals Process Explorer, of course. You can view much information about running processes from it, including their command line.

[100rabh]

I was referring to Sysinternals' process explorer, as well

[akira]

you missed the 2nd part of the question: "specific commandline"... not the first java.exe, that comes along .. neither all java.exe processes

[A Dwarf]

+20 That's it! Dammit :) I too was following the WMIC. But I was doing it from within the WMIC console and wasn't being able to apply LIKE. Was getting syntax errors, which were forcing me to use '=', which in turn forced me to input the whole CommandLine field. Glad to know LIKE works outside the WMIC console. Should have thought of that. Kudos to you

[root]

works perfectly when I call it from command line. I have TeamCity starting a process which I need to kill at the end of the build. Somehow when the same command line called by TeamCity it returns "No Instance(s) Available", the same commad like copied/pasted to cmd kills the process correctly. Any ideas why would that be?

[sarh]

Just a little tip for cmd files - to use this command from cmd file you should replace escape all '%' chars with a second '%' char, e.g. ... CommandLIne Like '%%-jar ...

[ripper234]

I should really learn PS sometime.

[js2010]

I tried it with notepad, but the startinfo.arguments were blank.

[Burgi]

Could you explain the difference between your PS command and the others here?

[js2010]

It's basically the same. Perhaps easier to type and remember. -match can actually take a regular expression.

[Burgi]

You should edit your answer to include that...