change user in linux script

Question

User x run a script. Now I want to change the user in the script to User y.

#!/bin/sh
whoami
echo password | su y
whoami

But I get this:

x
su: must be run from a terminal
x

Thanks for your help.

francoisrv · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-16 23:45:18Z

14

This is working for me inside a bash script:

whoami;
sudo su $user << BASH
  whoami;
BASH

answered Sep 16, 2013 at 23:45

francoisrv

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1 Comment

Only works where sudo is available. Debian has no sudo command.

pikzen · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-19 12:07:47Z

5

Su cannot be ran in a Bash script. You can use sudo -u <user> <command> && however.

answered Apr 19, 2012 at 12:07

pikzen

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Not entirely true. It is possible to run su from a script as long as you give it a terminal. For example:ssh -t user@localhost "su -c whoami"

gerritjvv · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-06 10:51:26Z

-2

you can do:

su - $USER -l -m -c $CMD

-l provide an environment similar to the login env -m preserves the current environment -c runs the command

e.g. I use this to run nohup commands also

su - $USER -l -m -c "nohup $RUN_CMD > "$LOG" 2>&1 >> /dev/null&"

answered Jun 6, 2013 at 10:51

gerritjvv

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