Why typing :(){ :|: & };: and pressing enter on my Ubuntu machine's terminal freezes the system?

Question

Friend suggested to type :(){ :|: & };: and pres enter on my Ubuntu machine's terminal and I did, it gave me output as number and system hanged forever. Could anyone help me understand why did this happen?

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

2

This is a fork bomb, there are plenty of information about this on the web:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/991142/how-does-this-bash-fork-bomb-work

edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

Community

1

answered Oct 08 '16 at 21:11

yarl

208

Why typing :(){ :|: & };: and pressing enter on my Ubuntu machine's terminal freezes the system?

1 Answers1