Miscellaneous
sleep
Pause execution for a specified number of seconds.
Synopsis
syntax
sleep NUMBER[SUFFIX]...
Examples
Pause for 5 seconds
sleep 5
Pause for half a second
sleep 0.5
Pause for 1 minute
sleep 1m
Pause for 2 hours
sleep 2h
Wait between commands
echo 'start' && sleep 10 && echo 'done'
About sleep
The `sleep` command pause execution for a specified number of seconds. Utility commands cover a broad range of everyday tasks from date manipulation and arithmetic to terminal control and system documentation.
These tools fill in the gaps between major categories and are frequently used in shell scripts, cron jobs, and interactive sessions. The command accepts 0 commonly used flags shown above, though the full set of options is available in the man page (`man sleep`).
The 5 examples on this page cover typical real-world usage patterns that you can copy and adapt for your own workflows.
Related commands
More Miscellaneous Commands
Other commands in the Miscellaneous category