How to run two commands with sudo?

Question

Is there any way how I can run two Db2 commands from a command line? They will be called from a PHP exec command.

db2 connect to ttt (note that we need to have the connection live for the second command
db2 UPDATE CONTACT SET EMAIL_ADDRESS = 'mytestaccount@gmail.com'

I tried this:

sudo -su db2inst1 db2 connect to ttt; db2 UPDATE CONTACT SET EMAIL_ADDRESS = 'mytestaccount@gmail.com'

The first command finishes correctly, but the second one fails with the following error message:

SQL1024N A database connection does not exist. SQLSTATE=08003

Note that I need to run this as php user. The command sudo -u db2inst1 id as php user gives me correct output.

please leave a comment why you want to close this question. Thank you. — Radek, Apr 06 '11 at 01:19
The close vote is for migration to serverfault, since this is a systems administration question, not programming. — bdonlan, Apr 06 '11 at 01:23

score 203 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 22 '20 at 13:56

203

For your command you also could refer to the following example:

sudo sh -c 'whoami; whoami'

edited Jun 22 '20 at 13:56

schnatterer

7,525
7
61
80

answered Apr 06 '11 at 01:57

Jason

3,237
4
26
28

14

I have found this a more reliable alternative. – Nick Jun 14 '12 at 14:58

score 169 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 23 '15 at 12:23

169

sudo can run multiple commands via a shell, for example:

$ sudo -s -- 'whoami; whoami'
root
root

Your command would be something like:

sudo -u db2inst1 -s -- "db2 connect to ttt; db2 UPDATE CONTACT SET EMAIL_ADDRESS = 'mytestaccount@gmail.com'"

If your sudo version doesn't work with semicolons with -s (apparently, it doesn't if compiled with certain options), you can use

sudo -- sh -c 'whoami; whoami'

instead, which basically does the same thing but makes you name the shell explicitly.

edited Aug 23 '15 at 12:23

Nobody

192
3
12

answered Apr 06 '11 at 01:20

wjl

7,519
2
32
41

3

it gives me `/bin/bash: db2: command not found /bin/bash: db2: command not found` if running as php user – Radek Apr 06 '11 at 01:29
`sudo -u db2inst1 -s -- 'whoami; whoami'` runs ok from php account – Radek Apr 06 '11 at 01:33
1

add the /full/path/to/db2 ; maybe the root shell doesn't have it in its $PATH – ggiroux Apr 06 '11 at 01:34
the reason is that there is no $PATH to db2 command. I have to the full path – Radek Apr 06 '11 at 01:36
Then db2 is not in the path for php user. Add a link to its binary in /usr/bin/. – Swiss Apr 06 '11 at 01:40
14

this doesn't work on latest debian stable (squeeze) bash: `sudo -s -- '/usr/bin/whoami; /usr/bin/whoami' /bin/bash: /usr/bin/whoami; /usr/bin/whoami: No such file or directory ` – Valor Nov 02 '12 at 11:48
13

@Valor you can use `sudo -- sh -c 'whoami; whoami;` as a workaround when "sudo -s" is broken. I've updated the answer as well. – wjl Nov 03 '12 at 15:19
In ubuntu, the result is: root ubuntu – Ardee Aram Dec 05 '14 at 03:13
6

Can you please explain why you need "--" ? – Vic Seedoubleyew May 15 '16 at 09:24
9

@VicSeedoubleyew The `--` indicates the end of parameters to `sudo`, so everything else is part of the command; without it, arguments like `-c` could be interpreted as an argument to `sudo`. This works for most (but not all) command-line programs. For another (non-`sudo`) example, to remove a file called `-f` you can't just run `rm -f`, right?! But you can run `rm -- -f` to delete the file called `-f`. – wjl May 15 '16 at 16:00
2

This answer lacks some explanations (though others are worse), in particular about `--` (the explanation is hidden in comments), and the fact that `sh` is not a `sudo` option. This might seem obvious but comments prove it's not to everybody. @wjl, please consider updating your answer. – Skippy le Grand Gourou Oct 26 '16 at 07:23
I am using the similar command on Redhat 7.8 system `ssh userA@host sudo -u userB -- sh -c 'whoami; whoami'` The output is `userB userA` Not able to fix this. Tried sudo options like `-i, -s --` – afsd Apr 23 '20 at 08:41
There's another non-obvious element here, which is the difference between single quotes and double quotes when variables are involved. Compare `sudo -- sh -c 'echo $USER'` (prints `root` on most systems) to `sudo -- sh -c "echo $USER"` (prints the current username instead of `root`). – kbolino May 26 '23 at 15:30

score 49 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 24 '13 at 09:02

49

If you would like to handle quotes:

sudo -s -- <<EOF
id
pwd
echo "Done."
EOF

answered Jan 24 '13 at 09:02

Nebojša

491
4
2

6

This is the cleanest answer here, thanks. Maybe add a note "You can't run multiple commands from `sudo` - you always need to trick it into executing a shell which may accept multiple commands to run as parameters" – trs Dec 03 '17 at 20:47
I think it's worth noting that, as with passing the commands to run inside a double quoted string, any variable substitution will use the local shell's environment not the target user's (typically root) environment. So `$HOME` will be your home, not root's, and `$USER` will be your username not "root", etc. – kbolino May 26 '23 at 15:24

score 46 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 14 '13 at 18:19

46

I usually do:

sudo bash -c 'whoami; whoami'

answered Aug 14 '13 at 18:19

Samer Atiani

695
1
6
8

score 14 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

An alternative using eval so avoiding use of a subshell:

sudo -s eval 'whoami; whoami'

Note: The other answers using sudo -s fail because the quotes are being passed on to bash and run as a single command so need to strip quotes with eval. eval is better explained is this SO answer

Quoting within the commands is easier too:

$ sudo -s eval 'whoami; whoami; echo "end;"'
root
root
end;

And if the commands need to stop running if one fails use double-ampersands instead of semi-colons:

$ sudo -s eval 'whoami && whoamit && echo "end;"'
root
/bin/bash: whoamit: command not found

Thank you! Even the subshell didn't work for me. – Laurie Koudstaal Feb 26 '23 at 07:14 — Laurie Koudstaal, Feb 26 '23 at 07:14

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 18 '13 at 23:24

3

The -s option didn't work for me, -i did.

Here is an example of how I could update the log size from my bash:

sudo -u [user] -i -- sh -c 'db2 connect to [database name];db2 update db cfg for [database name] using logsecond 20;db2 update db cfg for [database name] using logprimary 20;'

edited Jul 18 '13 at 23:24

Simon H

2,495
4
30
38

answered Jul 18 '13 at 22:58

abhihome

39
5

Moshe Simantov · Answer 7 · 2017-04-05T09:04:36.760

3

On the terminal, type:

$ sudo bash

Then write as many commands as you want. Type exit when you done.

If you need to automate it, create a script.sh file and run it:

$ sudo ./script.sh

edited Apr 05 '17 at 09:04

answered Apr 05 '17 at 08:18

Moshe Simantov

3,937
2
25
35

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered May 29 '19 at 07:12

On a slightly-related topic, I wanted to do the same multi-command sudo via SSH but none of the above worked.

For example on Ubuntu,

$ ssh host.name sudo sh -c "whoami; whoami"
[sudo] password for ubuntu:
root
ubuntu

The trick discovered here is to double-quote the command.

$ ssh host.name sudo sh -c '"whoami; whoami"'
[sudo] password for ubuntu:
root
root

Other options that also work:

ssh host.name sudo sh -c "\"whoami; whoami\""
ssh host.name 'sudo sh -c "whoami; whoami"'

In principle, double-quotes are needed because I think the client shell where SSH is run strips the outermost set of quotes. Mix and match the quotes to your needs (eg. variables need to be passed in). However YMMV with the quotes especially if the remote commands are complex. In that case, a tool like Ansible will make a better choice.

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 01 '19 at 08:37

1

If you know the root password, you can try

su -c "<command1> ; <command2>"

answered Nov 01 '19 at 08:37

nomad

471
6
12

1

If you don't know the root password, use `sudo su -c " ; " `. – Dag Høidahl Apr 22 '20 at 19:14

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 14 '12 at 08:49

0

The above answers won't let you quote inside the quotes. This solution will:

sudo -su nobody umask 0000 \; mkdir -p "$targetdir"

Both the umask command and the mkdir-command runs in with the 'nobody' user.

answered Sep 14 '12 at 08:49

arberg

4,148
4
31
39

You can use single and double quotes and escape them. – Radek Sep 14 '12 at 23:34
Ok, so how come,now matter what I set the umask to in this command, it has no effect? – Michael Sep 15 '13 at 23:51

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 03 '23 at 22:05

0

This is a clean solution that works well for multiple lines

sudo bash -c """
id
echo "testing"
"""

answered Jan 03 '23 at 22:05

Akaisteph7

5,034
2
20
43

How to run two commands with sudo?

11 Answers11

Linked

Related