You can shut down a Linux system using the command line by using the shutdown
command. The basic syntax is as follows:
sudo shutdown [OPTIONS] [TIME] [MESSAGE]
OPTIONS
: There are several options you can use to specify how the shutdown process should proceed. For example, you can use the-h
or--halt
option to halt the system after shutting down, or the-r
or--reboot
option to reboot the system after shutting down.TIME
: This is the time in minutes until the shutdown process is initiated. If you specifynow
, the shutdown process will start immediately.MESSAGE
: This is an optional message that will be broadcast to all users on the system.
Here are a few examples of how to use the shutdown
command to shut down a Linux system:
- To shut down the system immediately:
sudo shutdown now
- To shut down the system in 5 minutes:
sudo shutdown +5
- To shut down the system in 5 minutes and display a message to all users:
sudo shutdown +5 "The system will shut down in 5 minutes. Please save your work."
- To reboot the system immediately:
sudo shutdown -r now
Note that the sudo
command is used to run the shutdown
command with administrative privileges, as shutting down the system requires elevated permissions.