Sending commands and strings to Terminal.app with Applescript - macos

I want to do something like this:
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do script "ssh user#server.com"
-- // write user's password
-- // write some linux commands to remote server
end tell
For example to log in to the server, enter the password, and then login to mysql and select a DB.
I type that every day and it would be really helpful to bundle it into a script.
Also, is there a reference of what commands, properties, functions, etc. do applications (Terminal, Finder, etc) have available to use within Applescript? thanks!
EDIT: Let me clear this up:
I don't want to do several 'do script' as I tried and doesn't work.
I want to open a Terminal window, and then emulate a human typing in some characters and hitting enter. Could be passwords, could be commands, whatever, just sending chars to the Terminal which happens to be running ssh. I tried keystroke and doesn't seem to work.

First connect to the server and wait for 6 seconds (you can change that) and then execute whatever you need on the remote server using the same tab
tell application "Terminal"
set currentTab to do script ("ssh user#server;")
delay 6
do script ("do something remote") in currentTab
end tell

As EvanK stated each do script line will open a new window however you can run two commands with the same do script by separating them with a semicolon. For example:
tell application "Terminal"
do script "date;time"
end tell
But the limit appears to be two commands.
However, you can append "in window 1" to the do script command (for every do script after the first one) to get the same effect and continue to run as many commands as you need to in the same window:
tell application "Terminal"
do script "date"
do script "time" in window 1
do script "who" in window 1
end tell
Note that I just used the who, date, and time command as an example...replace
with whatever commands you need.

Here's another way, but with the advantage that it launches Terminal, brings it to the front, and creates only one window.
I like this when I want to be neatly presented with the results of my script.
tell application "Terminal"
activate
set shell to do script "echo 1" in window 1
do script "echo 2" in shell
do script "echo 3" in shell
end tell

How about this? There's no need for key codes (at least in Lion, not sure about earlier), and a subroutine simplifies the main script.
The below script will ssh to localhost as user "me", enter password "myPassw0rd" after a 1 second delay, issue ls, delay 2 seconds, and then exit.
tell application "Terminal"
activate
my execCmd("ssh me#localhost", 1)
my execCmd("myPassw0rd", 0)
my execCmd("ls", 2)
my execCmd("exit", 0)
end tell
on execCmd(cmd, pause)
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "Terminal"
set frontmost to true
keystroke cmd
keystroke return
end tell
end tell
delay pause
end execCmd

You don't need to "tell" Terminal to do anything. AppleScript can do shell scripts directly.
set theDir to "~/Desktop/"
do shell script "touch " & theDir &"SomeFile.txt"
or whatever ...

Why don't use expect:
tell application "Terminal"
activate
set currentTab to do script ("expect -c 'spawn ssh user#IP; expect \"*?assword:*\"; send \"MySecretPass
\"; interact'")
end tell

Your question is specifically about how to get Applescript to do what
you want. But, for the particular example described, you might want
to look into 'expect' as a solution.

Kinda related, you might want to look at Shuttle (http://fitztrev.github.io/shuttle/), it's a SSH shortcut menu for OSX.

The last example get errors under 10.6.8 (Build 10K549) caused by the keyword "pause".
Replacing it by the word "wait" makes it work:
tell application "Terminal"
activate
my execCmd("ssh me#localhost", 1)
my execCmd("myPassw0rd", 0)
my execCmd("ls", 2)
my execCmd("exit", 0)
end tell
on execCmd(cmd, wait)
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "Terminal"
set frontmost to true
keystroke cmd
keystroke return
end tell
end tell
delay wait
end execCmd

I could be mistaken, but I think Applescript Terminal integration is a one-shot deal...That is, each do script call is like opening a different terminal window, so I don't think you can interact with it at all.
You could copy over the SSH public keys to prevent the password prompt, then execute all the commands joined together (warning: the following is totally untested):
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do script "ssh jdoe#example.com '/home/jdoe/dosomestuff.sh && /home/jdoe/dosomemorestuff.sh'"
end tell
Alternatively, you could wrap the ssh and subsequent commands in a shell script using Expect, and then call said shell script from your Applescript.

set up passwordless ssh (ssh-keygen, then add the key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server). Make an entry in ~/.ssh/config (on your desktop), so that when you run ssh mysqlserver, it goes to user#hostname... Or make a shell alias, like gotosql, that expands to ssh user#host -t 'mysql_client ...' to start the mysql client interactively on the server.
Then you probably do need someone else's answer to script the process after that, since I don't know how to set startup commands for mysql.
At least that keeps your ssh password out of the script!

Petruza,
Instead of using keystroke use key code.
The following example should work for you.
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "Terminal"
set frontmost to true
key code {2, 0, 17, 14}
keystroke return
end tell
end tell
The above example will send the characters {d a t e}
to Terminal and then keystroke return will enter and run
the command. Use the above example with whatever key codes you need
and you'll be able to do what you're trying to do.

what about something like this:
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do shell script "sudo dscl localhost -create /Local/Default/Hosts/cc.josmoe.com IPAddress 127.0.0.1"
do shell script "sudo dscl localhost -create /Local/Default/Hosts/cc.josmos2.com IPAddress 127.0.0.1"
end tell

As neat solution, try-
$ open -a /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app *.py
or
$ open -b com.apple.terminal *.py
For the shell launched, you can go to Preferences > Shell > set it to exit if no error.
That's it.

I built this script. It is in Yosemite and it is bash script using AppleScript to choose a list of users for SSH servers. Basically you define an IP and then the user names.. when the application launches it asks who you want to login in as.. the SSH terminal is launched and logged in prompting a password...
(***
* --- --- --- --- ---
* JD Sports Fashion plc
* Apple Script
* Khaleel Mughal
* --- --- --- --- ---
* #SHELLSTAGINGSSHBASH
* --- --- --- --- ---
***)
set stagingIP to "192.162.999.999"
set faciaName to (choose from list {"admin", "marketing", "photography_cdn"})
if faciaName is false then
display dialog "No facia was selected." with icon stop buttons {"Exit"} default button {"Exit"}
else
set faciaName to (item 1 of faciaName)
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do script "ssh " & faciaName & "#" & stagingIP & ""
end tell
end if
I highly recommend though; Nathan Pickmans post above about Shuttle (http://fitztrev.github.io/shuttle/).. a very smart and simple application.

Related

how to close an active document in Mac OS using shell script

I am closing active document using apple script as below
tell application "Microsoft Word"
activate
try
if not (exists active document) then error number -128
close active document saving yes
on error
end try
end tell
want to do similar action using shell script. I want to gracefully close it and don't want to use kill command . And I don't want to use osascript to call an apple script . I want a graceful way using native shell commands
Hi you can use osascript in the shell code
#!/bin/sh
osascript <<EOF
tell application "$1"
close (every window whose name is "$2")
end tell
EOF
Compile this code and make filename.sh
or you can use
#!/bin/sh
osascript <<EOF
tell application "Preview"
close (every window whose name is "$1")
end tell
EOF
To use this from cmd type $./file_name Preview application name
Here I used the reference of https://ss64.com/osx/osascript.html

Apple script open Terminal with ready command

I'm trying to open terminal using apple script with a ready command but without executing it and allowing user to do this just by clicking enter (so I don't want to use tell Terminal to do script)
One of the approaches I used is using keystrokes:
tell application "Terminal" do script "echo Hi!"
keystroke "abc"
end tell
but it doesn't work for me. Any ideas?
I think you want to start Terminal and have a command all lined up ready in the Terminal ready for the user so he/she only has to press "Enter". If so, you can do this:
tell application "Terminal"
activate
delay 1
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "echo hi"
end tell
end tell
Then the user just has to press Enter and the command echo hi will execute.
it is hard to understand what you mean.
You can't for instance have the terminal wait for a user to click its window.
(But you can poll for a keystroke after the terminal window is opened.)
You'd have to use a dialog before your code, in order to make the user enter the terminal consciously.
display dialog "Press ok to enter the terminal" buttons {"Cancel","Enter"} cancel button 1 default button 2
Other than that, the way you'd need to use system events to send keystroke to the Terminal
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "Terminal"
keystroke "abcd"
end tell
end tell
You can poll for a keypress in the do script command to your terminal with this:
read -n 1 -s MYCHAR </dev/tty
This will force the user to press enter from a do script
a=`read`

On osx, how to open new iterm terminal tab from one script then run command in that temrinal window

I am running osx. I have a script which runs the full stack then runs grunt at the end. I want to be able to separate running grunt in a separate terminal tab, i am using iterm.
I have tried something like
open -a Terminal "cd ~/dev/work/poc/user-interface/src/main/webapp; grunt"
any ideas?
This should do it for you (obviously change dir & command):
osascript -e '
tell app "iTerm"
activate
tell the first terminal
launch session "Default Session"
tell the last session
set name to "New Session"
write text "cd /usr/bin; ls"
end tell
end tell
end tell'
It's a slightly modified version of something I wrote to add iTerm support for RStudio.
Like this:
#!/bin/bash
osascript -e '
tell application "Terminal"
do script "date"
activate
end tell'
Replace date with whatever you want it to do.

Script to shutdown mac

I'm trying to automate the shutdown of my mac, I've tried the scheduled shutdown in energy saver and I wanna sleep but these don;t seem to work. VLC player runnign seems to prevent the shutdown. I think I need a script to forcefully shutdown the mac regardless of of what errors may thrown to screen by various programs running.
Thanks
Ok,
This is the applescript code im using to shutdown may mac. I've added it as an iCal event thats runs nightly.
tell application "System Events" to set the visible of every process to true
set white_list to {"Finder"}
try
tell application "Finder"
set process_list to the name of every process whose visible is true
end tell
repeat with i from 1 to (number of items in process_list)
set this_process to item i of the process_list
if this_process is not in white_list then
do shell script "killall \"" & this_process & "\""
end if
end repeat
on error
tell the current application to display dialog "An error has occurred!" & return & "This script will now quit" buttons {"Quit"} default button 1 with icon 0
end try
tell application "System Events"
shut down
end tell
Could you try a simple applescript, which goes something like this...
tell application "System Events"
shut down
end tell
See if it works, and then you can make it run through Automator at certain time, etc.
my solution (somwhat late). Just a bash script with apple in it:
#!/bin/bash
# OK, just shutdown all ... applications after n minutes
sudo shutdown -h +2 &
# Try normal shutdown in the meantime
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to shut down'
I also edited the /etc/sudoers (and /private/etc/sudoers) file(s) and added the line:
ALL=NOPASSWD: /sbin/shutdown
Always worked for me for an assured shutdown (knock knock ;-) )
This should do:
do shell script "shutdown" with administrator privileges
If you want to pass the admin password from key chain, with no prompt:
do shell script "shutdown" with administrator privileges password "password here"
But do not store the admin password in clear anywhere. Instead use the keychain access.
Alternatively you could kill all user processes, via:
do shell script "kill -9 -1"
This however would also kill your own Applescript process, preventing it from requesting the shutdown/restart afterwards.
Either way you're playing with fire, when using sudo or kill.
do what linux users do. use a bash script. if u dont know how to create one just go ahead and download ANY bash script u find using your internet search and open it with text edit app and paste the following:
( be careful if many people use the pc , then this method is not recommended, cause they can learn your user login password from inside this script )
#!/bin/bash
echo -n "Enter a number > "
read x
echo [your password] | sudo -S shutdown -h +$x
it will work the same way it works in linux. the terminal will pop up a message and ask you to enter a number. if we choose for exaple 50 , then the pc ( niresh ) or mac will shutdown in 50 minutes.

Calling applescript from shell script using admin previleges

I'm running a shell script that runs an installation program (by ViseX) and selects different items in the installer through a list.
The installer needs administrator privileges to run properly, but I don't want to use sudo.
Currently the installation application does not work properly because it does not run with admin privileges.
How do I call the applescript with admin privileges or tell the installation app inside the applescript to run as admin?
Here's the applescript I'm using:
osascript <<-END
tell application "$1"
with timeout of 8 * 3600 seconds
activate
Select "$2"
DoInstall
end timeout
end tell
END
You can run shell scripts from an Applescript as an admin: see this technote.
So if you create this applescript as a separate script you could use it. Ugly, but should work.
Here's an applescript that does that. I'll leave you to turn it into a shell command. The following script opens the host file on your computer using TextEdit. You'll notice that admin privileges are required to open that file thus it makes for a good example. Note that I could do this particular task easier, but I'm doing it this way to show you how to launch an application with admin privileges and then target that application so you can perform other applescript commands...
set theFile to "/private/etc/hosts"
-- launch the application with admin privileges and get the pid of it
set thePID to (do shell script "/Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit > /dev/null 2>&1 & echo $!" with administrator privileges) as integer
-- get the bundle identifier of that pid so we can do something with the application
delay 0.2
tell application "System Events"
set theProcess to first process whose unix id is thePID
set bi to bundle identifier of theProcess
end tell
-- do something with it eg. open the hosts file
set theFileAlias to (POSIX file theFile) as alias
tell application id bi
activate
open theFileAlias
end tell
do shell script "[path/to/app] [param]" user name "[admin name]" password "[password]" with administrator privileges

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