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Suspend or Hibernate from the Terminal (systemctl)

Use systemctl suspend for sleep-to-RAM and systemctl hibernate for sleep-to-disk, plus hybrid-sleep and suspend-then-hibernate variants.

LinuxsleeplaptopPower & SleepsystemdMedium risk
Run `systemctl suspend` to put the machine to sleep, or `systemctl hibernate` to save state to swap and power off.

01Command

Command
$ systemctl suspend

02What it does

Suspend keeps RAM powered and wakes in seconds; hibernate writes memory to swap and uses no power, so a laptop can survive days asleep. Check whether hibernation is available with `cat /sys/power/state`. `systemctl suspend-then-hibernate` sleeps first and automatically hibernates after a delay set in /etc/systemd/sleep.conf — a good battery-friendly default for laptops.

03Risk

RiskMedium risk
Requirementslogind with polkit permission (allowed for a logged-in desktop user by default). Hibernation additionally needs a swap partition or swapfile sized to hold RAM and a resume= kernel parameter.
!Warning: Hibernate needs swap at least as large as your RAM plus a correctly set resume parameter; if resume fails the machine cold-boots and unsaved work in RAM is lost.

04Undo

✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.

05Sources

  • systemctl(1) - Linux manual page
    Ubuntu Manpages · technical · 2026-09-17
    Evidence: systemctl suspend, hibernate, hybrid-sleep and suspend-then-hibernate put the system into the corresponding power-saving state.
  • Suspend and hibernate - ArchWiki
    Arch Linux Wiki · technical · 2026-09-17
    Evidence: Documents suspend-to-RAM vs suspend-to-disk and the swap/resume requirements for hibernation to work.

Last verified: 2026-09-18 · Category: System & Settings

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