shutdown

Purpose

Terminate all processes and shut down (or reboot) the system.

Syntax

shutdown [options] time [messages]

Options

-t seconds specifies the time between the message and the kill signal.

-h halts the system after terminating all the processes.

-r reboots the system after terminating all the processes.

-f performs a fast reboot.

-k sends warning messages but does not shut down the system.

-c cancels a shutdown that’s in progress.

Description

The shutdown command (the full pathname is /sbin/shutdown) brings down the Linux system in an orderly way. You must specify a time when shutdown begins; use the keyword now to shutdown immediately. You must be logged in as root to run the shutdown command.