I'd like to get a process ID given its name under Linux. Is there a simple way to do this ? I haven't found anything on C++ that could be easily usable !

You can use the information in <code>/proc</code>. Here is an example.

Get process ID by name

I'd like to get a process ID given its name under Linux.

Is there a simple way to do this ?

I haven't found anything on C++ that could be easily usable !

How do I find the current process ID in Linux?

You can get the process ID of a process by calling getpid . The function getppid returns the process ID of the parent of the current process (this is also known as the parent process ID).

If going for 'easily usable',

char buf[512];
FILE *cmd_pipe = popen("pidof -s process_name", "r");

fgets(buf, 512, cmd_pipe);
pid_t pid = strtoul(buf, NULL, 10);

pclose( cmd_pipe );

is the way to go.

Yeah, it's ugly, I know. It's much better to go and read pidof source code.