osx - Interrupt-based Equivalent of ctrl+alt+del on OS X

06
2014-04
  • Mahmoud Al-Qudsi

    I'm looking for an equivalent of Ctrl+Alt+Del on Windows for OS X.

    Note: I am not looking for cmd+option+esc and this is not a duplicate of any questions asking for a "task manager".

    Ctrl+Alt+Del on Windows uses an interrupt whereas cmd+option+esc is just another keyboard shortcut. If the system is stuck (hung, etc.) cmd+option+esc will not respond because it's just another user-mode program/dialog like any other.

    I'm looking for an interrupt-based solution that will allow me to take control of an unresponsive system. OS X is (by and large) more stable than Windows, but when it gets stuck I have not found a solution as powerful as Ctrl+Alt+Del on Windows.

  • Answers
  • Sathya

    There is no real equivalent. Either use Cmd-Option-Esc, or Force Quit the application.

    Under the Apple menu, you will see force quit. You can either open this to choose an app, or hold shift while clicking force quit it will kill the frontmost app.


  • Related Question

    What is the interrupt key for Linux command "less"
  • Questioner

    When you do shift-f with less, you can see the file update in real time, and you get the "Waiting for data...(interrupt to abort)" message.

    The updating works fine, but what is the interrupt? nothing seems to work (Ctrl-C, Esc, Ctrl-I etc). I always have to kill the terminal which is a pain.


  • Related Answers
  • Randy Orrison

    Ctrl+C works for me. When I use the F command in less, it says "(interrupt to abort)". The "interrupt" that it's referring to is whatever key is bound to the terminal interrupt. The command stty -a shows the relevant terminal settings:

    speed 38400 baud; rows 50; columns 80; line = 0; intr = ^C; quit = ^\; erase = ^H; kill = ^U; eof = ^D; eol = ; eol2 = ; swtch = ; start = ^Q; stop = ^S; susp = ^Z; rprnt = ^R; werase = ^W; lnext = ^V; flush = ^O; min = 1; time = 0; -parenb -parodd cs8 -hupcl -cstopb cread -clocal -crtscts -ignbrk -brkint -ignpar -parmrk -inpck -istrip -inlcr -igncr icrnl ixon -ixoff -iuclc -ixany -imaxbel -iutf8 opost -olcuc -ocrnl onlcr -onocr -onlret -ofill -ofdel nl0 cr0 tab0 bs0 vt0 ff0 isig icanon iexten echo echoe echok -echonl -noflsh -xcase -tostop -echoprt echoctl echoke

    It's the intr = ^C that shows that interrupt is generated by Ctrl+C.

    If you do stty -a what does it show?