sudo stands for “super user do!”. This command prompts for the password of the current user. The sudo command identifies an authorized user by referencing /etc/sudoers that the system administrator configures. Remember not to edit /etc/sudoers file directly instead use “visudo” command. You can check the “sudoers” file by using the below command:

sudo less /etc/sudoers

(1) List privileges

sudo -l

(2) To restart system immediately

sudo shutdown -r now

(3) To display version number of sudo

sudo -v

(4) To run sudo command in background

sudo -b <command>

(5) To change password of user

sudo passwd <username>

(6) To read files which can be read only by admin

sudo less <file-path>

(7) To run program as admin

sudo ./script.sh 

(8) To run program as another user or group

Below is the command run by user ‘alice’:

sudo -u alice script.sh 

(9) Add user account

sudo useradd <username>

(10) Add user account with an encrypted home directory

For this, first, we need to install the ecryptfs-utils package,

sudo apt install ecryptfs-utils

and then use the --encrypt-home command to encrypt the home directory. You need to add other details for the creation of the user.

sudo useradd --encrypt-home <username> 

The first time when ‘testuser’ logs in, below command need to use to generate passphrase and user need to store passphrase in a secure place.

ecryptfs-unwrap-passphrase

(11) To update the system

sudo apt-get update

(12) Display Help of sudo command

sudo --help

Conclusion

This article covers sudo command usage in great details so that you can use it easily. If I have missed any command, write in a comment box below.

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