Become root, with Its Environment Variables

Become root, with Its Environment Variables

su -
Entering su all by its lonesome is equivalent to typing in su rootyou're root in name and power, but that's all. Behind the scenes, your non-root environment variables are still in place, as shown here:

$ ls
/home/scott/libby
$ whoami
scott
$ su
Password:
$ whoami
root
$ ls
/home/scott/libby

When you use su -, you not only become root, you also use root's environment variables.

$ ls
/home/scott/libby
$ whoami
scott
$ su -
Password:
$ whoami
root
$ ls
/root

Now that's better! Appending - after su is the same as su -l root, but requires less typing. You're root in name, power, and environment, which means you're fully root. To the computer, anything that root can do, you can do. Have fun with your superpowers, but remember that with great power comes great aw, you know how it ends.

source: scott grannemann