🐥 Run a Command with Timeout

golang pattern

Sometimes, you need to run a command and kill if it runs too long.

The best approach I've found for doing this is to use a context with a timeout combined with exec.CommandContext:

package main

import (
    "context"
    "os/exec"
)

func main() {
    ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 1*time.Second)
    defer cancel()

    cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "sleep", "5")

    out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()

    if (ctx.Err() == context.DeadlineExceeded) {
        // Command was killed
    }

    if err != nil {
        // If the command was killed, err will be "signal: killed"
        // If the command wasn't killed, it contains the actual error, e.g. invalid command
    }
}

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