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In computing, the process identifier (normally referred to as the process ID or just PID) is a number used by some operating system kernels (such as that of UNIX or Windows NT) to uniquely identify a process.

Under Unix, the PID is returned by the fork() system call to both the parent and child processes, so that a process can tell which it is.

The PID can be passed to wait() or kill() to perform actions on the given process.

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is used under the GFDL.

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