wait - wait for jobs to complete

Synopsis

wait [-n | --any] [PID | PROCESS_NAME] ...

Description

wait waits for child jobs to complete.

• If a pid is specified, the command waits for the job that the process with the pid belongs to.
• If a process name is specified, the command waits for the jobs that the matched processes belong to.
• If neither a pid nor a process name is specified, the command waits for all background jobs.
• If the -n / --any flag is provided, the command returns as soon as the first job completes. If it is not provided, it returns after all jobs complete.

Example

sleep 10 &
wait $last_pid

spawns sleep in the background, and then waits until it finishes.

for i in (seq 1 5); sleep 10 &; end
wait

spawns five jobs in the background, and then waits until all of them finishes.

for i in (seq 1 5); sleep 10 &; end
hoge &
wait sleep

spawns five jobs and hoge in the background, and then waits until all sleeps finish, and doesn't wait for hoge finishing.