$ echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches bash: /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches: Permission denied

Tried with the system password. But still failing.

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3 Answers

Execute the shell as root:

sudo sh -c 'echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches'

Or redirect the input to a process that will write to file as root:

echo 3 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
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There is another possibility (not mentioned in answers here yet) is when you use a OpenVZ server, where even the "root" user may not be able to change the proc values.

Mine had read only permissions for root, and even though group was root, I couldn't change it with chmod.

For more info, refer to answers here:

You should do it with root user. Or atleast should use sudo then command. 

sync; echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
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