1---
2title: "pause"
3description: "The pause command description and usage"
4keywords: "cgroups, container, suspend, SIGSTOP"
5---
6
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15
16# pause
17
18```markdown
19Usage:  docker pause CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]
20
21Pause all processes within one or more containers
22
23Options:
24      --help   Print usage
25```
26
27## Description
28
29The `docker pause` command suspends all processes in the specified containers.
30On Linux, this uses the cgroups freezer. Traditionally, when suspending a process
31the `SIGSTOP` signal is used, which is observable by the process being suspended.
32With the cgroups freezer the process is unaware, and unable to capture,
33that it is being suspended, and subsequently resumed. On Windows, only Hyper-V
34containers can be paused.
35
36See the
37[cgroups freezer documentation](https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroup-v1/freezer-subsystem.txt)
38for further details.
39
40## Examples
41
42```bash
43$ docker pause my_container
44```
45
46## Related commands
47
48* [unpause](unpause.md)
49