Most Deadly Linux Commands

Here are some reasons why you should never log in as root unless you have a specific task.

List topic started by biddit

• 1.

  rm -fr /

  Probably the simplest way to hose your system. It recursively deletes all files from the root of your filesystem.

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• 2.

  dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda

  Copies nothing over the entire contents of your disk.

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• 3.

  ls > /dev/sda

  The > redirects raw output, and in this case, to your hard disk, effectively corrupting and destroying the filesystem. 'ls' is used here, but any command can be used.

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• 4.

  mv /home/* /dev/null

  Moves all the user directories to the great black hole known as /dev/null. (effectively deleting them)

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  Did you know you can EDIT it?

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• 5.

  chmod -R 777 /

  Grants read, write, and execute rights to every file for every user.

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• 6.

  mkfs /dev/sda

  Creates a new filesystem on the target. That is to say that it reformats your hard drive.

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• 7.

  :(){ :|:& };:

  This is a forkbomb. It forks processes until your system grinds to a halt.

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