How to remotely write to a file using SSH

Question

I can copy a file to a remote Linux machine with no problem with

scp file user@host: /pathtowrite_file

However, I'm having difficulty writing to a file from one linux machine to another. Here is what I attempted:

echo 'Some Text' > /remotefile.txt | ssh user@remotehost

The notice that I get is

stdin: is not a tty

At any rate, the file on the remote machine does not reflect the text sent 'Some Text'.

Answer 1

You can use the "cat" command to create the remote file.

echo 'Some Text' | ssh user@remotehost -T "cat > /remotefile.txt"

The -T disables pseudo-terminal allocation and stops you from getting the message,

Pseudo-terminal will not be allocated because stdin is not a terminal.

Answer 2

A bit shorter than the other answer:

ssh user@remotehost "echo Some Text > /remotefile.txt"

Answer 3

It's also possible to use dd to append to a file. Maybe a bit obscure but useful if output redirection on the remote host isn't possible.

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh [email protected] 'dd of=.ssh/authorized_keys oflag=append conv=notrunc'

This example appends your public key to the authorized_keys file on the remote host.

(Source: http://www.rsync.net/resources/howto/ssh_keys.html)

Answer 4

This will take the contents of your clipboard on a Mac and append it to the end of a file remotely:

pbpaste | ssh [email protected] 'cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys'

This allows you to write (append) to the end of a file on a remote host:

echo "Append string to file" | ssh [email protected] 'cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys'

Answer 5

If has to be used multiple times might be easier to use this code. With "sshpass" tool, ssh won't prompt you for a password for each invocation of the script. (unless you need to keep it secret, then better off not use it)

For more info about sshpass : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12202587/automatically-enter-ssh-password-with-script

#!/bin/bash

SCRIPT="echo 'nameserver 8.8.8.8' > /etc/resolv.conf"        

if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; then
        echo "Wrong number of arguments. usage: prog dest_machine"
else
        sshpass -p "root" ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@"$1" "${SCRIPT}"
fi

Answer 6

You can simply use vi or nano or pico editor:

# Just replace "vi" with "nano" or "pico" if you want to use them.
vi remotefile.txt

However, you will then have to write Some Text into it in the editor by yourself, so this process is not really batch-compatible.

Answer 7

Create a script as below:

# !/bin/bash

read -p "Enter target server IP : " server
echo "Enter root password for $server : " ; read -s password

yum install sshpass -y

sshpass -p "$password" ssh -o strictHostKeyChecking=no root@$server echo "your text goes here" >> /remotefile.txt

Answer 8

I do it like this if it's a multiliner:

cat <<EOF | ssh genom@$IP -T "cat >>./remotefile.txt"
line one
line two
line three
EOF

On my ubuntu unix it works without the T-option as well:

cat <<EOF | ssh genom@$IP "cat >>./remotefile.txt"
line one
line two
line three
EOF