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188
What does the message "You have running jobs" mean?


The commands described below need to be entered while logged in to the Unix server.   Normally you'll see a prompt ending with $ when the command interpreter (or shell) is ready for another command.

This message may appear if you try to logout (exit) when there is a background job running in your login session under Unix.

You can find out what jobs are there by entering the command jobs. If you enter the command fg (meaning foreground), the job should then be brought into the foreground and you can then quit from it.

If you give the exit command twice in succession, it will let you logout even if there are jobs running. However, those jobs may then be killed off.

Sometimes the shell reports that "You have running jobs" when in fact there are none. This is probably caused by a bug in the shell. If the 'jobs' command reports nothing then you can safely exit.

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Created by Andy Clews on 27 July 2001 and last updated by Andy Clews on 4 August 2015