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.TH sleep 1 "28 Jul 2011" "SunOS 5.11" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
sleep \- suspend execution for an interval
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
.nf
\fB/usr/bin/sleep\fR \fIinterval\fR[\fBd|h|m|s\fR]...
.fi

.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
.LP
\fBsleep\fR suspends execution for at least the time in seconds specified by \fIseconds\fR or until a \fBSIGALRM\fR signal is received. The \fIseconds\fR operand can be specified as a floating point number but the actual granularity normally depends on the underlying system.
.SH OPERANDS
.sp
.ne 2
.mk
.na
\fB\fIinterval\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 12n
.rt  
A floating-point number specifying the time for which to suspend execution. The floating-point number may be specified in all formats required by C99/XPG6, including constants such as \fBInf\fR or \fBinfinite\fR. One of four suffixes may optionally be specified, indicating the number specified is days (\fBd\fR), hours (\fBh\fR), minutes (\fBm\fR), or seconds (\fBs\fR). With no suffix, the interval is assumed to be seconds. If multiple intervals are specified they are summed together. Individual intervals may be negative but the sum must be greater than or equal to zero.
.RE

.SH EXAMPLES
.LP
\fBExample 1 \fRSuspending Command Execution
.sp
.LP
The following example executes a command after a certain amount of time:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
example% \fB(sleep 105; \fIcommand\fR)&\fR
.fi
.in -2
.sp

.LP
\fBExample 2 \fRExecuting a Command Every So Often
.sp
.LP
The following example executes a command every so often:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
example% \fBwhile true
do
        \fIcommand\fR
        sleep 37
done\fR
.fi
.in -2
.sp

.LP
\fBExample 3 \fRSuspending Command Execution Forever
.sp
.LP
The following example suspends command execution forever or until a \fBSIGALRM\fR signal is received:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
example% sleep Inf
.fi
.in -2
.sp

.LP
\fBExample 4 \fRSuspending Command Execution for 0.5 Seconds
.sp
.LP
Suspending command execution for 0.5 seconds using an alternative floating-point representation for the value \fB0.5\fR:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
example% printf "%a\en" 0.5
0x1.0000000000000000000000000000p-01
.fi
.in -2
.sp

.sp
.in +2
.nf
example% sleep 0x1.0000000000000000000000000000p-01
.fi
.in -2
.sp

.LP
\fBExample 5 \fRSuspending Execution for 23 Hours
.sp
.LP
The following example suspends execution for twenty three hours using a letter suffixes:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
example% sleep 1d -1h
.fi
.in -2
.sp

.SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
.sp
.LP
See \fBenviron\fR(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of \fBsleep\fR: \fBLANG\fR, \fBLC_ALL\fR, \fBLC_CTYPE\fR, \fBLC_MESSAGES\fR, and \fBNLSPATH\fR.
.SH EXIT STATUS
.sp
.LP
The following exit values are returned:
.sp
.ne 2
.mk
.na
\fB\fB0\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 6n
.rt  
The execution was successfully suspended for at least \fItime\fR seconds, or a \fBSIGALRM\fR signal was received (see NOTES).
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.mk
.na
\fB\fB>0\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 6n
.rt  
An error has occurred.
.RE

.SH ATTRIBUTES
.sp
.LP
See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
.sp

.sp
.TS
tab() box;
cw(2.75i) |cw(2.75i) 
lw(2.75i) |lw(2.75i) 
.
ATTRIBUTE TYPEATTRIBUTE VALUE
_
Availabilitysystem/core-os
_
Interface StabilityCommitted
_
StandardSee \fBstandards\fR(5).
.TE

.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
.LP
\fBwait\fR(1), \fBalarm\fR(2), \fBsleep\fR(3C), \fBattributes\fR(5), \fBenviron\fR(5), \fBstandards\fR(5)
.SH NOTES
.sp
.LP
If the \fBsleep\fR utility receives a \fBSIGALRM\fR signal, one of the following actions is taken:
.RS +4
.TP
.ie t \(bu
.el o
Terminate normally with a zero exit status.
.RE
.RS +4
.TP
.ie t \(bu
.el o
Effectively ignore the signal.
.RE
.sp
.LP
The \fBsleep\fR utility takes the standard action for all other signals.