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What does sudo mean?

Pascal Arnould By Pascal Arnould Software Engineer III

I've always wondered what sudo means when I run a Terminal command like this:

sudo shutdown -r now

sudo is an abbreviation of "super user do" and is a Linux command that allows programs to be executed as a super user (aka root user) or another user. It's basically the Linux/Mac equivalent of the runas command in Windows. Commands that can be run with sudo are defined in a file named sudoers in the /etc private folder. This file should only be edited using the visudo command.

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Pascal Arnould

Software Engineer III

Pascal Arnould

He has over 20 years experience of of implementing complex technology solutions across a number of sectors, and is a passionate advocate of Agile practices, continuous learning and engineering excellence.

Pascal worked at endjin from 2013 - 2015.