jobs

jobs [options] [jobspec]

jobs is a shell builtin that displays the status of jobs started in the current shell session. Jobs are processes started with & (background) or suspended with Ctrl+Z.Each job has a job number (shown in brackets) that can be used with fg, bg, and kill commands using the %n syntax. The + indicates the current job, and - indicates the previous job.

-l

List process IDs in addition to normal information

Display only jobs with status changed since last notification

Display only process IDs

Display only running jobs

Display only stopped jobs

Replace jobspec in command with process group ID and execute it

Shell builtin - behavior may vary between shells. Options -n, -r, -s are Bash-specific. Jobs are specific to the current shell session and not visible to other shells.

Job control was introduced in the C shell (csh) in the late 1970s and adopted by other shells including Bash. It allows users to manage multiple processes within a single terminal session.

fg(1), bg(1), disown(1), kill(1)