sudo Command

sudo (superuser do) executes a command as another user, typically root. It is the primary mechanism for administrative privilege escalation in Linux, providing fine-grained access control through the /etc/sudoers file.

sudo logs all commands for auditing, requires the user's own password (not root's), and can be configured to allow specific commands for specific users. It is far more secure than logging in as root or using su.

sudo is configured via /etc/sudoers (edited with visudo). Users must be in the sudo group (Debian/Ubuntu) or wheel group (RHEL/CentOS) to use sudo by default.

Option	Description	Example
-u	Run as specified user	sudo -u www-data php script.php
-i	Login shell as root	sudo -i
-s	Run a shell as root	sudo -s
-l	List allowed commands	sudo -l
-k	Invalidate cached credentials	sudo -k
-v	Extend credential timeout	sudo -v
-E	Preserve environment variables	sudo -E ./script.sh
-n	Non-interactive (fail if password needed)	sudo -n systemctl status nginx