SLEEP(1) User Commands SLEEP(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

sleep - delay for a specified amount of time

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**sleep** *NUMBER*\[*SUFFIX*]...  
**sleep** *OPTION*

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Pause for NUMBER seconds, where NUMBER is an integer or floating-point. SUFFIX may be 's','m','h', or 'd', for seconds, minutes, hours, days. With multiple arguments, pause for the sum of their values.

[**--help**](#help)

display this help and exit

[**--version**](#version)

output version information and exit

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Written by Jim Meyering and Paul Eggert.

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

Report bugs to: <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.  
Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.  
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>  
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.  
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**sleep**(3)](/man/os/coreutils/sleep.3)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sleep>  
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) sleep invocation'

September 2026 GNU coreutils 9.12

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Document: sleep(1) from coreutils 9.12-r3 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/coreutils.git