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My usual command for keeping the machine up to date is rather verbose, and it can result in more than one password prompt if any command takes a long time:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo apt-get autoremove && sudo apt-get autoclean
I'd like to shorten this down to one command (preferably without using a global alias).
Solution based on @amra's answer and another tip:
sudo sh -c 'apt-get update && apt-get upgrade --yes && if [ -f /var/run/reboot-required ]; then echo You should reboot; fi' 
                try: sudo -s then use: apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade && apt-get autoremove && apt-get autoclean; logout
– Javaguru
                Jul 23, 2010 at 8:56
                Is there a common name people may assign to creating a custom mega-upgrade command like this? (I made up the name mega-upgrade ;)
– Mikeumus
                Jan 16, 2015 at 11:52
                I would call it: alias apt-update-dist-upgrade-autoremove-autoclean='sudo sh -c "apt-get -y update;apt-get -y dist-upgrade;apt-get -y autoremove;apt-get -y autoclean"'; But I would prefer only apt-get upgrade and decide myself when to dist-upgrade.
– rubo77
                Jan 21, 2015 at 10:47
One can use the '&&' operator to execute command 'cmd2' if and only if 'cmd1' has been executed without errors:
(cmd1 && cmd2)
But this only works in bash directly, without 'sudo' in front.
So, in order to work as expected, we can use the following command:
sudo /bin/sh -c "apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade && apt-get autoremove && apt-get autoclean"
Note that the answer proposed by amra does not the same as the above command:
Commands separated by ";" are executed in sequence without taking the exit code of the previous command into account.
When using "&&" to separate the commands, the exit code is taken into account.
Thus, if we have "cmd1 && cmd2", cmd2 is only executed if the exit code of cmd1 was 0 (i.e. cmd1 did not fail).
        
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