passing arguments in remote ssh command?

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

i have a bash script on serverA, when i run the script on the server, it runs fine. the way to run the script is like this ./script "option1"

Now i am trying to call it from local laptop using ssh command, my command is as the following

ssh serverA ~/script "option1"

and i got error messages, "line 1: syntax error at ''

what could be wrong? How am i going to pass the argument in remote ssh command?

Thanks

2

Hi.

You need to either escape the tilde (~), or quote the command, otherwise the ~ means the local user's home directory, not the remote one:

Before:

/Users/scott $ ssh oracle@vm_oracle_10g ~/scripts/myScript opt1 opt2 opt3  
oracle@oracle's password: 
ksh: line 1: /Users/scott/scripts/myScript: not found

After:

/Users/scott $ ssh oracle@vm_oracle_10g \~/scripts/myScript opt1 opt2 opt3
oracle@vm_oracle_10g's password: 
Hello from myscript @ oracle@vm_oracle_10g
Options passwd were:  opt1 opt2 opt3
/Users/scott $

Aside from that, be careful how you use quotes, especially if you have to mix single and double quotes :slight_smile:

3

it also helps to wrap your remote command string in quotes...single-quote (') will be handled strictly verbatim, while double-quotes will allow for local variables to be used...

4

thanks, but in my case, the system treats the ~ as remote home dir, not the local one, since the command gets executed, but the remote system is complaining about the argument part.

line 1: syntax error at ''

5

Show the script you are trying to run - there is nothing I can see wrong in the command you are running (even given how it's quoted)

I'm surprised that your system knows that ~ should be treated remotely, but I take your word for it :slight_smile:

6

won't work if the script is only on the local machine and the SQL client is on the remote...unless local and remote are the same machine, of course... :stuck_out_tongue:

7

Or have the same script in both home directories :slight_smile:

Is the command you show us the actual command you are running? i.e. if your command contains variables, and it's not quoted, then.....

8

ah, thanks everybody, i figured it out. using both single and double quotes solves the problem.

ssh ServerA "~/script '$option' '$optionb' '$optionc'"

and scottn, i am using ubuntu, and i guess it is smart enough to regard ~ as remote home dir.

Thanks everyone for the quick answers.