service

List the name and status of all services

$ service --status-all

$ service [service_name] [start|stop|restart|reload]

$ service [service_name] --full-restart

$ service [service_name] status

service script command [options]
service --status-all

service is a wrapper for init scripts in /etc/init.d/, providing a consistent interface to manage SysV init services. It automatically handles environment sanitization and path normalization for init script execution.
On systemd systems, service typically redirects commands to systemctl for backward compatibility. It remains useful for managing traditional init scripts and provides a familiar interface for administrators.

--status-all

List status of all services

Service name (script in /etc/init.d/)

Start the service

Stop the service

Stop and start the service

Reload service configuration

Show service status

Perform full stop then start sequence

On systemd systems, systemctl is preferred. Not all init scripts implement all commands (reload may not be available). The service command requires root privileges for most operations.

Introduced in Debian and adopted by other distributions as a standard interface for SysV init scripts. With the transition to systemd, service became a compatibility wrapper that translates commands to systemctl where appropriate.

systemctl(1), chkconfig(8), update-rc.d(8)