How to run multiple commands while using sudo as another user

Question

I need to run two or more commands as another user in Linux. For example, using "root", I need to sudo to another user and do something like "cd /tmp/; ls -ltr".

If I do: "sudo -i -u john.smith whoami" without the double quotes, it will tell me I am john.smith.

Now I want to expand that do whoami, change directories, and execute an ls command while using "root" to sudo as john.smith.

Sorry, I should have clarified that I want to try this without writing a script. Eventually I want to be able to update the command on the fly with our automation scheduler without having to log into the server and update the script. That way, others would be able to do the same if I'm unavailable. — Huey
– Huey, Commented Dec 8, 2016 at 17:39

ruakh · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-08 17:31:43Z

5

Bash supports a -c flag that lets you specify the command to run as a command-line argument — basically an inline Bash script. That means you can easily combine multiple commands into a single call to bash, which is then easily sudo-ed:

sudo -i -u john.smith bash -c 'whoami ; cd /tmp/ ; ls -ltr'

or

sudo -i -u john.smith \
  bash -c ' whoami
            cd /tmp/
            ls -ltr
          '

(Other shell languages have the same feature.)

answered Dec 8, 2016 at 17:31

ruakh

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Nick · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-08 17:18:29Z

0

You can make small shell script file and start it with sudo.

Another thing I often useon Ubuntu is to make "sudo su" - this give me root shell and I proceed from there.

answered Dec 8, 2016 at 17:18

Nick

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