From the course: Complete Guide to Linux Security: Protecting Your Linux Server Environment

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The su command

The su command - Linux Tutorial

From the course: Complete Guide to Linux Security: Protecting Your Linux Server Environment

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The su command

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- Su is short for substitute user. It's a great command that you can use in Linux to change from one user account to another. If you ever need to log in as a different user, the su command will facilitate this. If you look at the slide here, you'll see we have su <username> and also su - <username>. Sometimes I'll refer to this as su, sometimes I'll just say su to make it quicker, but this is the substitute user command. Some people say switch user. Previously, it was known as super user because we would use it to connect as root, but the proper name is substitute user. So, for example, you could do a su sysadmin or an su - sysadmin, and that will log in to the sysadmin accounts as long as you know the password for sysadmin. One difference between the two is that su leaves you in the current directory. So su by itself leaves you in your current directory in your current user, but su - puts you in the home directory of the user you're logging in as. Right, so to reiterate, su, that'll…

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