[bash] How does a Linux/Unix Bash script know its own PID?

I have a script in Bash called Script.sh, and it needs to know its own PID (i.e. I need to get PID inside the Script.sh )

Any idea how to do this ?

This question is related to bash scripting pid

The answer is


The PID is stored in $$.

Example: kill -9 $$ will kill the shell instance it is called from.


use $BASHPID or $$

See the [manual][1] for more information, including differences between the two.

TL;DRTFM

  • $$ Expands to the process ID of the shell.
    • In a () subshell, it expands to the process ID of the invoking shell, not the subshell.
  • $BASHPID Expands to the process ID of the current Bash process (new to bash 4).

You can use the $$ variable.


If the process is a child process and $BASHPID is not set, it is possible to query the ppid of a created child process of the running process. It might be a bit ugly, but it works. Example:

sleep 1 &
mypid=$(ps -o ppid= -p "$!")

In addition to the example given in the Advanced Bash Scripting Guide referenced by Jefromi, these examples show how pipes create subshells:

$ echo $$ $BASHPID | cat -
11656 31528
$ echo $$ $BASHPID
11656 11656
$ echo $$ | while read line; do echo $line $$ $BASHPID; done
11656 11656 31497
$ while read line; do echo $line $$ $BASHPID; done <<< $$
11656 11656 11656

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