SIGALRM
Encyclopedia : S : SI : SIG : SIGALRM
On POSIX compliant platforms, SIGALRM is the symbolic name for the signal thrown by computer programs when a time limit has elapsed. SIGALRM is a symbolic constant defined in signal.h. Symbolic signal names are used as signal numbers can vary across platforms.
Etymology
SIG- is a common prefix for signal names. ALRM is an abbreviated form of alarm.Usage
Computer programs often use SIGALRM to either provide a timeout to how long an action can take, or provide a way of regularly performing an action.
SIGALRM is generally raised a whole number of seconds after an alarm system call is made. It is sometimes used to implement the sleep function.
| POSIX Signals |
| SIGABRT | SIGALRM | SIGFPE | SIGHUP | SIGILL | SIGINT | SIGKILL | SIGPIPE | SIGQUIT | SIGSEGV | SIGTERM | SIGUSR1 | SIGUSR2 | SIGCHLD | SIGCONT | SIGSTOP | SIGTSTP | SIGTTIN | SIGTTOU | SIGBUS | SIGPOLL | SIGPROF | SIGSYS | SIGTRAP | SIGURG | SIGVTALRM | SIGXCPU | SIGXFSZ | Realtime Signals are user definable—SIGRTMIN+n through SIGRTMAX. |
| Common non-POSIX signals and synonyms |
| SIGIOT | SIGEMT | SIGSTKFLT | SIGIO | SIGCLD | SIGPWR (SIGINFO) | SIGLOST | SIGWINCH | SIGUNUSED |
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