SIGINT

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On POSIX-compliant platforms, SIGINT is the signal sent to a process by its controlling terminal when a user wishes to interrupt the process. In source code, SIGINT is a symbolic constant defined in the header file signal.h. Symbolic signal names are used because a signal's numeric value can vary across platforms; on the vast majority of systems, it is signal #2

Etymology

SIG is a common prefix for signal names. INT is an abbreviated form of interrupt or interactive.

Usage

SIGINT is sent when the user on the process' controlling terminal presses the interrupt the running process key — typically Control-C, but on some systems, the "delete" character or "break" key.

External links

• In-depth discussion of SIGINT handling

See also

• SIGQUIT
• SIGTERM