If you do feel like putting a delay on the shutdown, you can use the following command syntax instead: Shutting down a Mac in XX Minutes from the Command Line You can also use the -h flag to set a time or date for shutting down the computer, for example in 30 minutes, but if you want to shut down the Mac instantly you would use the ‘now’ parameter with the -h flag rather than a number. No data is saved and no dialogs are confirmed, the shut down happens instantly. Hit the return key and authenticate with an administrative password to immediately shut down the Mac.Enter the following command syntax exactly:.Open the Terminal in Mac OS (found in /Applications/Utilities/ folder).If you feel like trying this yourself (and you have all data saved and nothing important open) do the following: Unless you’re actively logged in as the root user (via single user or otherwise), you will need to prefix the shutdown command with ‘sudo’ to give the command superuser privileges, thus requiring an administrative password. There is no warning and no dialog, it happens instantly. To turn off a Mac with the shutdown command, you will use the -h flag and give the time for ‘now’ making the syntax like so:Īs soon as you hit return and authenticate the command, the Mac halts and kills all applications and processes and shuts the computer down. Shutting Down a Mac from Command Line with ‘shutdown’Īpt for the name, the ‘shutdown’ command can shutdown a Mac as well as reboot a Mac via Terminal. This could lead to data loss, so be sure you are ready to turn off a Mac if you issue these commands. Instead, the Mac will instantly terminate any and all activity going on and immediately shut down the computer. There is no confirmation, no warning dialog, no stopping to save documents, no asking to close apps or save anything. The Mac Terminal offers many commands for handling various tasks and system functions, and so naturally the command line also offers a method to shutdown a Mac computer from the Terminal as well.Īn important word of warning: shutting down a Mac through the command line happens instantaneously. There are several ways to shut down a Mac from the command line, we’ll cover two of the most simple methods using easy syntax.

Open macdown from terminal