The standard method for moving a foreground process to background involves:

# Start process
wget http://example.com/large-file.iso

# Pause with Ctrl+Z
^Z
[1]+  Stopped                 wget http://example.com/large-file.iso

# Continue in background
bg %1

While there's no single-key equivalent to Ctrl+Z that backgrounds directly, these methods achieve similar results:

1. Using disown with Job Control

# Start process normally
python long_running_script.py

# Pause (Ctrl+Z), then:
bg
disown -h %1

2. Screen/Tmux Solution

For persistent backgrounding:

# Start screen session
screen

# Run process
make build

# Detach (Ctrl+A then D)
# Process continues running

For processes that handle SIGTSTP (Ctrl+Z signal) poorly:

# Find process ID
ps aux | grep "wget"

# Send to background
kill -SIGCONT PID

Best practice is to anticipate background needs:

# Basic backgrounding
wget http://example.com/file &

# With output redirection
nohup python script.py > output.log 2>&1 &

Be aware of these process states during backgrounding:

• T: Stopped (by Ctrl+Z or signal)
• S: Interruptible sleep
• R: Running or runnable
• Z: Zombie process

When you need to background a running foreground process in Linux/Unix, the typical workflow is:

# Start process in foreground
wget http://example.com/large-file.iso

# Suspend with Ctrl+Z
^Z
[1]+  Stopped                 wget http://example.com/large-file.iso

# Move to background
bg %1

The traditional method has a critical limitation - it stops the process during suspension before moving it to background. For operations like downloads, this creates unwanted network interruptions.

1. Using disown with Shell Job Control

# Start process
wget http://example.com/big-file.zip

# Directly background without stopping (bash/zsh)
disown -h %1 && bg %1

2. The bg Alternative (Some Shells)

In certain shells like zsh, you can use:

bg -r %1  # The -r flag prevents suspension

3. Terminal Multiplexer Approach

For complex workflows, use tmux/screen:

tmux new -s download_session
wget http://example.com/huge-file.tar.gz
Ctrl+b d  # Detach without stopping

When backgrounding processes:

• Use nohup if you need persistence after logout
• Monitor with jobs -l or ps aux | grep wget
• Consider reptyr for stealing existing processes

# Start compilation
make -j4

# Realize you need terminal access
disown -h %1 && bg %1

# Verify it's running
jobs -l
ps aux | grep make

Remember that some processes may behave differently when backgrounded - particularly those requiring terminal interaction or real-time output.