bg

Additional Notes

bg is a shell job-control builtin. It resumes a stopped job and lets it continue running in the background.

Use it after suspending a foreground command with Ctrl+Z when you want the command to keep running while you continue using the shell.

Syntax

bg [job]

Parameters

• job: Job spec such as %1, shown by the jobs command. If omitted, the current job is used.

Common Commands

• jobs: List shell jobs.
• bg %1: Resume job 1 in the background.
• fg %1: Bring job 1 to the foreground.
• Ctrl+Z: Suspend the current foreground job.

Examples

sleep 100
# press Ctrl+Z
bg

Suspend a command, then resume it in the background.

jobs
bg %2

Resume job 2 in the background.

fg %2

Bring the job back to the foreground.

Practical Notes

• bg is managed by the current shell, not a separate executable.
• Background jobs that read from the terminal may stop again.
• Use nohup, disown, tmux, or systemd-run for jobs that must survive logout.