Shutting down your MacBook using terminal gives you more options and versatility than shutting down through the Apple power button. In this guide, we will show you how you can restart and shut down your MacBook by giving a command in Terminal.
Shutting Down your Mac via Terminal using “Sudo” Command
Here’s how you can do it:
- Open “Terminal” manually or use Spotlight Search, press Command + Space to open Spotlight Search, type “Terminal” and open it from the search results.
- You will have to use the “sudo” command or else Terminal will give you an error message.
- The “Sudo” command gives you superuser security privileges. Give the following command:
sudo shutdown -h <time>
Instead of <time> type the time when you want to shut down your Mac. If you want to do so at the very moment, type now. If you want to do it an hour later, type +60. Press Enter key and type your MacBook’s password.
Your MacBook will shut down at the specified time.
Restarting your Mac via Terminal
Here’s how you can restart your MacBook via Terminal:
- Open “Terminal” manually or use Spotlight Search, press Command + Space to open Spotlight Search, type “Terminal” and open it from the search results.
- When terminal launch, type the following command:
sudo shutdown -r <time>
Type the specific time when you want your MacBook to restart again instead of the <time> in the command. If you want your MacBook to start immediately type “now”, otherwise type “+60” if you want it to restart an hour later. At the end type your MacBook’s password and your device will restart at the specified time.
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