---
name: "zzz"
section: "8"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/zzz"
---

# zzz(8)

suspend the system

## NAME

**zzz** – suspend the system

## SYNOPSIS

**zzz**

## DESCRIPTION

The **zzz** utility suspends the system by writing a suspend transition request to */dev/power*.

The specific sleep method used (e.g. suspend-to-idle or firmware suspend) is determined by the *kern.power.suspend* sysctl.

## SEE ALSO

[acpi(4)](/acpi/4.md), [acpiconf(8)](/acpiconf/8.md)

## HISTORY

The **zzz** utility first appeared as a shell script in FreeBSD 5.1. It suspended the system by invoking [acpiconf(8)](/acpiconf/8.md) with the suspend state configured via *hw.acpi.suspend\_state*, or [apm(8)](/apm/8.md) on systems without ACPI support.

It was rewritten in C in FreeBSD 16.0 to use the generic power management interface provided by */dev/power*.

## AUTHORS

The original **zzz** script was written by Mark Santcroos ⟨*marks@ripe.net*⟩. This manual page was originally written by Nate Lawson ⟨*njl@FreeBSD.org*⟩. Both the current program and manual page were written by Aymeric Wibo ⟨*obiwac@FreeBSD.org*⟩, under sponsorship from the FreeBSD Foundation.