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What's different between Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+C in Unix command line?

Fresh5 days ago
Mar 15, 2026342892 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

I'm using Mac OS X Terminal. And I use Ctrl+Z or Ctrl+C to stop some programs. But I realized that I don't know what they're exactly doing. What are they and what's the difference between them? This question was a Super User Question of the Week. Read the March 13, 2011 blog entry for more details or submit your own Question of the Week.

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Fix for: What's different between Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+C in Unix command line?

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Control+Z is used for suspending a process by sending it the signal , which cannot be intercepted by the program. While Control+C is used to kill a process with the signal , and can be intercepted by a program so it can clean its self up before exiting, or not exit at all. If you suspend a process, this will show up in the shell to tell you it has been suspended: However, if you kill one, you won't see any confirmation other than being dropped back to a shell prompt. When you suspend a process,…

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