How do I use sudo command on Mac?

Answer 1

The sudo command stands for "super-user do". What it does is give you root-level permissions (think administrator permissions) when running another command. Therefore sudo is never used by itself, but rather in conjunction with other commands. You must be logged into an administrator user profile to use sudo.

Let's say you want to run the command foo, but you need root-level access to do it. Without sudo, you encounter a permissions error.

$ foo

You do not have permission.

Then you would run this command instead. When prompted, enter the password you use to log into your user profile and press Enter. Neither your password nor any stand-in character, such as *, will appear as you type it out; don't worry, as this is a security feature, and your password is indeed being entered.

$ sudo foo

Password:

Success!

Be careful when using sudo! Often permissions are restricted in order to prevent you from damaging important files that could corrupt your data or even damage your operating system. Always make sure you know what you are doing when invoking root-level permissions.