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Signals, job control and pipes

Signal actions

Signals interrupt the normal flow of control in a process. Signals do not direct the execution of a process; but rather, request that the process take some action. For most signals, a process can arrange to respond in one of the following ways:

The chosen response for each signal is known as the signal's ``disposition''.

For example, an interrupt signal may be sent by pressing an appropriate key on the terminal (``delete'', ``break'' or ``rubout''). The action taken depends on the requirements of the specific program being executed. For example:

A signal is said to be ``delivered'' to a process when the process receives the signal and takes the action established for it. Signal delivery resembles the occurrence of a hardware interrupt: the signal is normally blocked from further occurrence, the current process context is saved, and a new one is built.


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