Start a new process without blocking the terminal

Question

Is it possible to do this? For example if I run "gedit tifatul.txt" via the command line, my terminal becomes blocked and I can't enter other command in this terminal before I quit gedit. Can I start a program (like gedit) without blocking the terminal? In windows I think this can be done like "start notepad tifatul.txt"

@PedroDiniz meaning I can't type another command to the terminal while gedit is running. If you have windows, try the difference between running notepad (blocked) and start notepad (not blocked) — TifatulS, Apr 28 '13 at 15:33

score 81 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 28 '13 at 15:35

81

Just add & at the end of the command. This makes the new process to run in background and you can continue using your terminal. For example: gedit new_file.txt &

answered Apr 28 '13 at 15:35

Daniel Yuste Aroca

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By the way, do you know any documentation regarding this behaviour? Is it only for gedit? – TifatulS Apr 28 '13 at 15:38
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This feature of background process is provided by the shell, so it is not working only for gedit but for any command you run on shell. – Daniel Yuste Aroca Apr 28 '13 at 15:53
yeah, thanks for the answer. I was gonna accept but the system requires me to wait another couple of minutes – TifatulS Apr 28 '13 at 16:01
Accepted and upvoted :) By the way what is this feature called? – TifatulS Apr 28 '13 at 16:03
This feature is called running processes in background or running background processes. – Daniel Yuste Aroca Apr 28 '13 at 16:09
Any way to spawn a new process in a way that it can't output to the console? For instance, nautilus . & keeps sending various warnings and outputs to the console. EDIT: exec nautilus . & seems to work. EDIT 2: No it doesn't. :( EDIT 3: Oh it does. You just hit Ctrl+C to get out of the infinite block, but the program doesn't get killed. – Mateen Ulhaq May 17 '17 at 19:48
But this doesn't work in git hook – Aero Windwalker Mar 28 '19 at 08:36
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Please add the warning of what happens if you close your terminal. – Jason Doucette Apr 03 '21 at 18:52

score 28 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 23 '14 at 04:26

28

I would like to recommend you nohup gedit filename &. Simply gedit filename &, you're bearing the risk to accidentally close the terminal and lose your edit. If you don't like nohup.out being created each time, just redirect the output:

nohup gedit filename > /dev/null &

answered Apr 23 '14 at 04:26

frozen-flame

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What about this format nohup gedit filename > /dev/null 2>&1 & I saw it recommended in an archive from 2009 https://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1345506.html – Kevin Muhuri Aug 17 '20 at 12:46

Start a new process without blocking the terminal

2 Answers2