Linux Command: jobs

The jobs command displays the status of background and suspended jobs in the current shell session. Each job has a job number (different from PID) that can be used with fg, bg, kill, and other job control commands. jobs shows whether each background task is running, stopped, or completed. It is a shell built-in available in bash, zsh, and other Bourne-compatible shells. Job control is essential for multitasking in a single terminal — running commands in the background, switching between tasks, and managing multiple processes without needing multiple terminal windows.

Syntax

jobs [OPTION]... [JOB_SPEC]

Common Examples

• jobs — Shows all background and suspended jobs in the current shell.
• jobs -l — Shows job numbers along with process IDs.
• sleep 300 &\njobs — Starts a background job and lists it.
• fg %1 — Brings job 1 back to foreground.

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