reference count, allowing the parent to exit independently of the child, unless
there is an established IPC channel between the child and parent.
-Example of detaching a long-running process and redirecting its output to a
-file:
+When using the `detached` option to start a long-running process, the process
+will not stay running in the background after the parent exits unless it is
+provided with a `stdio` configuration that is not connected to the parent.
+If the parent's `stdio` is inherited, the child will remain attached to the
+controlling terminal.
+
+Example of a long-running process, by detaching and also ignoring its parent
+`stdio` file descriptors, in order to ignore the parent's termination:
+
+```js
+const spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
+
+const child = spawn(process.argv[0], ['child_program.js'], {
+ detached: true,
+ stdio: ['ignore']
+});
+
+child.unref();
+```
+
+Alternatively one can redirect the child process' output into files:
```js
const fs = require('fs');
child.unref();
```
-When using the `detached` option to start a long-running process, the process
-will not stay running in the background after the parent exits unless it is
-provided with a `stdio` configuration that is not connected to the parent.
-If the parent's `stdio` is inherited, the child will remain attached to the
-controlling terminal.
-
#### options.stdio
The `options.stdio` option is used to configure the pipes that are established