Linux - Bash - Copying multi-line strings from source to terminal

Question

I am writing notes as I prepare a system so I have something to follow if/when I need to prepare another system. Also I am hoping to use these notes and implement into a puppet configuration at some point.

I am trying to write multi-line bash commands, but when I copy and paste from my IDE (aptana) into the terminal, I get weird behavior and the commands never execute, even though when I step back in history the multi-line command looks like I entered it manually.

My question is, how can I save the commands in a multi-line format so I can quickly copy and paste into the terminal?

Example:

$ "mkdir -p /var/log/php && \ chown -R apache /var/log/php && \ chgrp -R webdev /var/log/php && \ chmod -R 775 /var/log/php && \ touch /var/log/php/oops.log" touch /var/log/php/oops.log: No such file or directory 

Answer 1

Bash control operators (such as &&) do NOT require a " \" to concatenate lines together. You also do not need to quote your script. The re-factored version would be:

mkdir -p /var/log/php && /bin/chown -R apache /var/log/php && /bin/chgrp -R webdev /var/log/php && /bin/chmod -R 775 /var/log/php && touch /var/log/php/oops.log 

Cutting and pasting that script in a shell should work.

Answer 2

You could use exec:

$ exec <<< "echo hello world" 

BUT keep in mind, it will exit your current shell once done. You could address this by spawning a new shell:

$ bash -s <<< "echo hello world" 

Also, you could make it a bash script. Example:

#!/bin/bash mkdir -p /var/log/php chown -R apache /var/log/php chgrp -R webdev /var/log/php chmod -R 775 /var/log/php touch /var/log/php/oops.log 

You could do something like:

$ cat >> ~/script.sh #!/bin/bash mkdir -p /var/log/php chown -R apache /var/log/php chgrp -R webdev /var/log/php chmod -R 775 /var/log/php touch /var/log/php/oops.log <CTRL+D> $ . ~/script.sh 

Answer 3

You simply do the first four commands by doing...

$ install -o apache -g webdev -m 0755 -d /var/log/php 

This will create a directory /var/log/php with owner apache group webdev and permission 0755.