`sudo userx` returns `sudo: userx: command not found` , why?

Question

just installed this Linux disto ver 13.04 installed Xfce 4.0x got it running just fine then for some reason that good'O sudo stopped working all by itself why? I now type in sudo and this is what I get

Wed Oct  2 15:23:06 CDT 2013
[15:23 userx@bw ~] > sudo
usage: sudo [-D level] -h | -K | -k | -V
usage: sudo -v [-AknS] [-D level] [-g groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-u user
            name|#uid]
usage: sudo -l[l] [-AknS] [-D level] [-g groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-U user
            name] [-u user name|#uid] [-g groupname|#gid] [command]
usage: sudo [-AbEHknPS] [-r role] [-t type] [-C fd] [-D level] [-g
            groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-u user name|#uid] [-g groupname|#gid]
            [VAR=value] [-i|-s] [<command>]
usage: sudo -e [-AknS] [-r role] [-t type] [-C fd] [-D level] [-g
            groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-u user name|#uid] file ...

so I then type in this

[15:23 userx@bw ~] > sudo userx
[sudo] password for userx: 
sudo: userx: command not found
[15:23 userx@bw ~] >

and that is what I get after I type in my password

what is going on here? how am I to install anything? wish they'd never messed with su installed the root user account by default then let you create users

This is the standard behavior for sudo. You need to type a command after sudo. userx command is not found because your username is not a command. — Dan, Oct 02 '13 at 20:36

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

sudo hasn't broke. You don't know how to use it. sudo is an anagram of Super User DO. And you are telling the super user to run userx and he tells you back that the command userx does not exist.

$ userx
No command 'userx' found, did you mean:
 Command 'users' from package 'coreutils' (main)
 Command 'userv' from package 'userv' (universe)
userx: command not found

For actually using sudo you have to know what you will run:

sudo apt-get check
[sudo] password for braiam: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done

I bet that if you run a command that actually exist it will run ok. BTW, sudo is not su. While su changes your user to root, in Ubuntu root is disabled in favor of 1 time/for 1 use superuser privileges sudo.

To update, remove and manage packages I would suggest you to use the GUI.

Good to read about su and sudo:

`sudo userx` returns `sudo: userx: command not found` , why?

1 Answers1