ssh with a set -o vi as first interactive command

Question

I have a small script that i use to log in to a server. I exchanged the keys. The default set by the adminstirator is emacs. I got kind of addicted to the vi key bindings. I can't log in as myself, I have to log in as a group user. most of the time the first thing that i do is type in set -o vi . SOmetimes I forget and start using the vi key binding, but they work work, then i have to use the emacs key bindings. my muscle memory get messed up. It would be great to just automagically have the key bindings set when i log in with the login script.

anyhow I am trying to add the set command to my ssh script.

This one does not work.

#!/bin/bash
ssh -q -T bighost <<EOF
set -o vi
EOF
~

This one does not work

#!/bin/bash
ssh bighost bash -c "'
set -o vi
'"

This lets me ssh to the host, but the vi is not set as the keybinding.

#!/bin/bash
ssh -t bighost "$(< set -o vi )"




corp_user@bighost:~$ set -o
allexport       off
braceexpand     on
emacs           on
errexit         off
errtrace        off
functrace       off
hashall         on
histexpand      on
history         on
ignoreeof       off
interactive-comments    on
keyword         off
monitor         on
noclobber       off
noexec          off
noglob          off
nolog           off
notify          off
nounset         off
onecmd          off
physical        off
pipefail        off
posix           off
privileged      off
verbose         off
vi              off
xtrace          off
corp_user@big_host:~$

I even tried something like this:

ssh corp_user@bighost "$( < . ~/woogie)

Where woogie has "set -o vi " in it. Can this be done?

Answer 1

This script works when I use it here:

#!/bin/bash

ssh [host] -t bash -o vi

where [host] should be the host you want to connect to. The -t option for ssh tells ssh to force the usage of a tty. If you don't do that, bash won't behave like a normal interactive shell. The option you were looking for is -o vi which is the same thing you'd give to set. The man page for bash mentions that you can give on the command line the same things you'd give set.

This does not require you to create any file on the remote host.

Answer 2

Use Expect

The easiest way to do this in a way that won't impact the other users who share the remote account is with expect. For example:

expect -c 'spawn ssh localhost; expect "$ "; send "set -o vi\r"; interact return'

This will login and wait for a prompt before attempting to set the vi key bindings, and then turn control back over to you.