[bash] sudo echo "something" >> /etc/privilegedFile doesn't work

This is a pretty simple question, at least it seems like it should be, about sudo permissions in Linux.

There are a lot of times when I just want to append something to /etc/hosts or a similar file but end up not being able to because both > and >> are not allowed, even with root.

Is there someway to make this work without having to su or sudo su into root?

sudo sh -c "echo 127.0.0.1 localhost >> /etc/hosts"

In bash you can use tee in combination with > /dev/null to keep stdout clean.

 echo "# comment" |  sudo tee -a /etc/hosts > /dev/null

echo 'Hello World' | (sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list)

I would note, for the curious, that you can also quote a heredoc (for large blocks):

sudo bash -c "cat <<EOIPFW >> /etc/ipfw.conf
<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>

<plist version=\"1.0\">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.company.ipfw</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/sbin/ipfw</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/sbin/ipfw</string>
      <string>-q</string>
      <string>/etc/ipfw.conf</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true></true>
  </dict>
</plist>
EOIPFW"

Doing

sudo sh -c "echo >> somefile"

should work. The problem is that > and >> are handled by your shell, not by the "sudoed" command, so the permissions are your ones, not the ones of the user you are "sudoing" into.

By using sed -i with $ a , you can append text, containing both variables and special characters, after the last line.

For example, adding $NEW_HOST with $NEW_IP to /etc/hosts:

sudo sed -i "\$ a $NEW_IP\t\t$NEW_HOST.domain.local\t$NEW_HOST" /etc/hosts

sed options explained:

• -i for in-place
• $ for last line
• a for append

sudo sh -c "echo 127.0.0.1 localhost >> /etc/hosts"

Doing

sudo sh -c "echo >> somefile"

should work. The problem is that > and >> are handled by your shell, not by the "sudoed" command, so the permissions are your ones, not the ones of the user you are "sudoing" into.

sudo sh -c "echo 127.0.0.1 localhost >> /etc/hosts"

Some user not know solution when using multiples lines.

sudo tee -a  /path/file/to/create_with_text > /dev/null <<EOT 
line 1
line 2
line 3
EOT

I would note, for the curious, that you can also quote a heredoc (for large blocks):

sudo bash -c "cat <<EOIPFW >> /etc/ipfw.conf
<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>

<plist version=\"1.0\">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.company.ipfw</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/sbin/ipfw</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/sbin/ipfw</string>
      <string>-q</string>
      <string>/etc/ipfw.conf</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true></true>
  </dict>
</plist>
EOIPFW"

How about:
echo text | sudo dd status=none of=privilegedfile
I want to change /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_rmem.
I did:
sudo dd status=none of=/proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_rmem <<<"4096 131072 1024000"
eliminates the echo with a single line document

Doing

sudo sh -c "echo >> somefile"

should work. The problem is that > and >> are handled by your shell, not by the "sudoed" command, so the permissions are your ones, not the ones of the user you are "sudoing" into.

sudo sh -c "echo 127.0.0.1 localhost >> /etc/hosts"

This worked for me: original command

echo "export CATALINA_HOME="/opt/tomcat9"" >> /etc/environment

Working command

echo "export CATALINA_HOME="/opt/tomcat9"" |sudo tee /etc/environment

Some user not know solution when using multiples lines.

sudo tee -a  /path/file/to/create_with_text > /dev/null <<EOT 
line 1
line 2
line 3
EOT

By using sed -i with $ a , you can append text, containing both variables and special characters, after the last line.

For example, adding $NEW_HOST with $NEW_IP to /etc/hosts:

sudo sed -i "\$ a $NEW_IP\t\t$NEW_HOST.domain.local\t$NEW_HOST" /etc/hosts

sed options explained:

• -i for in-place
• $ for last line
• a for append

echo 'Hello World' | (sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list)

The problem is that the shell does output redirection, not sudo or echo, so this is being done as your regular user.

Try the following code snippet:

sudo sh -c "echo 'something' >> /etc/privilegedfile"

You can also use sponge from the moreutils package and not need to redirect the output (i.e., no tee noise to hide):

echo 'Add this line' | sudo sponge -a privfile

The problem is that the shell does output redirection, not sudo or echo, so this is being done as your regular user.

Try the following code snippet:

sudo sh -c "echo 'something' >> /etc/privilegedfile"

The issue is that it's your shell that handles redirection; it's trying to open the file with your permissions not those of the process you're running under sudo.

Use something like this, perhaps:

sudo sh -c "echo 'something' >> /etc/privilegedFile"

How about:
echo text | sudo dd status=none of=privilegedfile
I want to change /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_rmem.
I did:
sudo dd status=none of=/proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_rmem <<<"4096 131072 1024000"
eliminates the echo with a single line document

The issue is that it's your shell that handles redirection; it's trying to open the file with your permissions not those of the process you're running under sudo.

Use something like this, perhaps:

sudo sh -c "echo 'something' >> /etc/privilegedFile"

In bash you can use tee in combination with > /dev/null to keep stdout clean.

 echo "# comment" |  sudo tee -a /etc/hosts > /dev/null

You can also use sponge from the moreutils package and not need to redirect the output (i.e., no tee noise to hide):

echo 'Add this line' | sudo sponge -a privfile

The problem is that the shell does output redirection, not sudo or echo, so this is being done as your regular user.

Try the following code snippet:

sudo sh -c "echo 'something' >> /etc/privilegedfile"

Can you change the ownership of the file then change it back after using cat >> to append?

sudo chown youruser /etc/hosts  
sudo cat /downloaded/hostsadditions >> /etc/hosts  
sudo chown root /etc/hosts  

Something like this work for you?

Doing

sudo sh -c "echo >> somefile"

should work. The problem is that > and >> are handled by your shell, not by the "sudoed" command, so the permissions are your ones, not the ones of the user you are "sudoing" into.

Using Yoo's answer, put this in your ~/.bashrc:

sudoe() {
    [[ "$#" -ne 2 ]] && echo "Usage: sudoe <text> <file>" && return 1
    echo "$1" | sudo tee --append "$2" > /dev/null
}

Now you can run sudoe 'deb blah # blah' /etc/apt/sources.list

Edit:

A more complete version which allows you to pipe input in or redirect from a file and includes a -a switch to turn off appending (which is on by default):

sudoe() {
  if ([[ "$1" == "-a" ]] || [[ "$1" == "--no-append" ]]); then
    shift &>/dev/null || local failed=1
  else
    local append="--append"
  fi

  while [[ $failed -ne 1 ]]; do
    if [[ -t 0 ]]; then
      text="$1"; shift &>/dev/null || break
    else
      text="$(cat <&0)"
    fi

    [[ -z "$1" ]] && break
    echo "$text" | sudo tee $append "$1" >/dev/null; return $?
  done

  echo "Usage: $0 [-a|--no-append] [text] <file>"; return 1
}

The issue is that it's your shell that handles redirection; it's trying to open the file with your permissions not those of the process you're running under sudo.

Use something like this, perhaps:

sudo sh -c "echo 'something' >> /etc/privilegedFile"

This worked for me: original command

echo "export CATALINA_HOME="/opt/tomcat9"" >> /etc/environment

Working command

echo "export CATALINA_HOME="/opt/tomcat9"" |sudo tee /etc/environment

The problem is that the shell does output redirection, not sudo or echo, so this is being done as your regular user.

Try the following code snippet:

sudo sh -c "echo 'something' >> /etc/privilegedfile"

Can you change the ownership of the file then change it back after using cat >> to append?

sudo chown youruser /etc/hosts  
sudo cat /downloaded/hostsadditions >> /etc/hosts  
sudo chown root /etc/hosts  

Something like this work for you?