How to append multiple lines of text to a file?

Question

I want to append this text:

<Directory "/var/www/*">
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
    AllowOverride All
</Directory>

to the file /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

I have access via SSH but I don't know how to use VIM. I would like to do this via a command.

Answer 1

This syntax is called "HERE documents":

sudo tee -a /tmp/file <<EOF
<Directory "/var/www/*">
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
    AllowOverride All
</Directory>    
EOF

This solution is better than using ctrl-d since it can be used inside shell scripts.

Answer 2

Use:

nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

(you may need to use sudo)

This will give you a command line text editor that works much like normal text editors. Use the arrow keys to navigate. Backspace, enter, etc. work as normal.

To save, press Ctrl+O and use Ctrl+X to exit. For help, press Ctrl+G from inside nano, or use man nano.

It should look something like this:

Answer 3

Here's an easy way to do it, using cat .

% cat - >> testf
one
two
   three
four

You terminate your input with the CTRL-D .

This takes interactive input from cat (i.e., whatever you type in), and appends it to the existing file testf .

testf (with two original lines intact) will now look like this:

original line 1
original line 2

one
two
   three
four

As other answers have illustrated, you will need special syntax when editing files which you don't have write permission on. I find it easier to just switch to the root user for this, i.e., sudo su . But another easy method is to use tee with the append flag set, and called with sudo:

sudo tee -a >> config.conf

Answer 4

The nano editor is more friendly (sudo apt-get install nano if not available).

echo "<Directory \"/var/www/*\">"  > out_file
echo "    Order allow,deny"       >> out_file
echo "    Allow from all"         >> out_file
echo "    AllowOverride All"      >> out_file
echo "</Directory>"               >> out_file

cat out_file | sudo tee -a /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Answer 5

Since you asked for a Vim, here is the command to run:

sudo vim -e +'$put = \"<Directory \\"/var/www/*\\">\n\tOrder allow,deny\n\tAllow from all\n\tAllowOverride All\n</Directory>\n\"' -cwq /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

If you don't have vim, this is also equivalent to either vi -e or ex.

Alternative cleaner approach:

$ sudo ex +"r /dev/stdin" -cwq output.txt <<-EOF
<Directory "/var/www/*">
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
    AllowOverride All
</Directory>
EOF

Just run the first line (without $), paste the multi line text, then type EOF to finish.