PAUSE(3) Library Functions Manual PAUSE(3)

pause — wait for a signal

#include <unistd.h>

int
pause(void);

() is obsoleted by sigsuspend(2).

() blocks the calling thread until it receives an unmasked signal.

pause() always returns -1.

pause() always sets errno(2) to the following value:

[]
The call was interrupted by a signal.

kill(2), setitimer(2), sigprocmask(2), sigsuspend(2), signal(3)

A pause() system call first appeared outside of Bell Labs in the “50 changes” tape for Version 6 AT&T UNIX. It was first officially released with PWB/UNIX 1.0. It was reimplemented as a wrapper around the sigpause() and sigblock() system calls in 4.2BSD, and around the sigsuspend(2) and sigprocmask(2) system calls in 4.3BSD-Reno.

OpenBSD 7.8 December 30, 2022 PAUSE(3)