disown — Detach a job from the shell job table

Linux / Service and process management / disown.html

A shell builtin that removes a job from the job table so logout signals no longer reach it.

Basic Information

What is this command?

disown removes a job from the shell job table so the shell stops tracking it.

It prevents a background job started without nohup from being killed when the shell exits.

What problems does it solve?

• Keep a job alive after an SSH session ends.
• Avoid SIGHUP delivery on shell exit.
• Keep the job list tidy.
• Protect a job from accidental cleanup.

Key features

Detach a job

Give a job number to remove it from the table.

• When to use: Jobs that must survive logout
• What you get: The shell no longer tracks it
• Limitations: It disappears from jobs

Ignoring HUP

The -h option marks the job to ignore SIGHUP.

• When to use: When blocking the signal but keeping tracking
• What you get: A job ignoring SIGHUP
• Limitations: It remains in the job table

Detach all

The -a option detaches every job at once.

• When to use: When clearing several jobs
• What you get: The job table is emptied
• Limitations: This cannot be undone

Installation and usage

Check whether it is installed

help disown

man bash # disown is a shell builtin

Real-world examples

Detach

Remove job 1 from the table.

# Detach job 1 from the shell
 disown %1

Ignore HUP

Mark the job to ignore HUP.

# Mark job 1 to ignore SIGHUP
disown -h %1

Detach all

Detach all jobs.

# Detach every job
 disown -a