is there a way to combine EOF with a terminal alias?

Question

I am relatively new to using the command line.

I want to create an alias such as "importme" that will do the following:

alias importme="ssh root@server.com << EOF
mysql
list databases;
EOF"

The problem is that using EOF requires pressing ENTER, which is not possible with alias'. My end goal is to create an alias that will import a database into a REMOTE database server from my local machine.

Any ideas on how to create this alias? with or without using EOF? Thanks

interestingly enough, with my zsh this works. it fails horribly with bash, though. — mnagel, Sep 11 '13 at 14:56

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 11 '13 at 10:17

2

Instead, create a function an save it in your ~/.bashrc:

importme()
{
   ssh root@server.com << EOF
mysql
list databases;
EOF
}

Source (. ~/.bashrc) and you will be ready to use it with importme.

answered Sep 11 '13 at 10:17

fedorqui

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thanks fedorqui! is there any harm in putting this in ~/.profile instead? – Rees Sep 11 '13 at 22:08
@Rees to be honest, I always have to check in http://stackoverflow.com/a/415444/1983854 to guess it. I would use `.bashrc`, but try and `.profile` should make it. And if you don't mind, come back and explain so we both learn it! – fedorqui Sep 12 '13 at 08:23

is there a way to combine EOF with a terminal alias?

1 Answers1