Terms

Background Describes processes usually running at a lower priority and with their input disconnected from the interactive session. Input and output are usually directed to a file or other process.

Background processes Autonomous processes that run under UNIX without requiring user interaction.

Child processes See subprocesses.

Child shells See subshells.

Parent process identifier Shown in the heading of the ps command as PPID. This is the process identifier of the parent process. See also parent processes.

Parent processes These processes control other processes that are often referred to as child processes or subprocesses. See processes.

Parent shell This shell controls other shells, which are often referred to as child shells or subshells. ...

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