`watch jobs` doesn't work in linux

Question

I want to use watch jobs to see an updated showing of all the jobs I have running, but when I try to do it, all I get is the headline of watch and a blank screen. But using the script

while (1)
  sleep 10;
  clear;
  jobs;
end

does work, where is the problem?

Eric Johnson · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-05T16:27:43.977

7

Job control is managed by the shell and jobs is a shell builtin function. If you use the command which jobs you will see there is no binary called jobs anywhere in your $PATH.

watch is doing a system call every two seconds so shell functions aren't available to it.

You could also try watch 'ps awwwux | grep yourusername'. But its not quite the same as jobs.

edited Apr 05 '11 at 16:27

answered Apr 05 '11 at 16:20

Eric Johnson

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ps awwwux | grep shows too much stuff for me (I use google chrome which has plenty of threads), so I prefer using `pgrep -fl ` here – Daniel Kitachewsky Jun 07 '13 at 09:05

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 05 '11 at 16:20

4

Job is not a system command its a shell command - when you start watch he executes a subshell which has its own job managment and of course no jobs. Try watch ps.

answered Apr 05 '11 at 16:20

flolo

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`watch jobs` doesn't work in linux

2 Answers2