Linux Shells by Example

10.4. Job Control

Job control is a powerful feature of the TC shell that allows you to run programs, called jobs, in the background or foreground. Normally, a command typed at the command line is running in the foreground and will continue until it has finished. If you have a windowing program, job control may not be necessary, because you can simply open another window to start a new task. On the other hand, with a single terminal, job control is a very useful feature. For a list of job commands, see Table 10.12.

Table 10.12. Job Control Commands

Command	Meaning
jobs	Lists all the jobs running.
^Z (Ctrl-Z)	Stops (suspends) the job; the prompt appears on the screen.
bg	Starts running the stopped job in the background.
fg	Brings a background ...