SLEEP(1) User Commands SLEEP(1)

sleep - delay for a specified amount of time

sleep NUMBER[SUFFIX]...
sleep OPTION

Pause for NUMBER seconds, where NUMBER is an integer or floating-point. SUFFIX may be 's','m','h', or 'd', for seconds, minutes, hours, days. With multiple arguments, pause for the sum of their values.

--help
display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit

Written by Jim Meyering and Paul Eggert.

Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
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Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

sleep(3)

Full documentation https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sleep
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) sleep invocation'

February 2026 GNU coreutils 9.10