WAIT(1)                                                   WAIT(1)



     NAME
          wait - await completion of process

     SYNOPSIS
          wait [ n ]

     DESCRIPTION
          Wait for your background process whose process id is n and
          report its termination status.  If n is omitted, all your
          shell's currently active background processes are waited for
          and the return code will be zero.

          The shell itself executes wait, without creating a new
          process.

     SEE ALSO
          sh(1).

     CAVEAT
          If you get the error message cannot fork, too many
          processes, try using the wait(1) command to clean up your
          background processes.  If this doesn't help, the system
          process table is probably full or you have too many active
          foreground processes.  (There is a limit to the number of
          process ids associated with your login, and to the number
          the system can keep track of.)

     BUGS
          Not all the processes of a 3- or more-stage pipeline are
          children of the shell, and thus cannot be waited for.

          If n is not an active process id, all your shell's currently
          active background processes are waited for and the return
          code will be zero.

     ORIGIN
          AT&T V.3


















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