Append line to /etc/hosts file with shell script
If your in mac or you need sudo permission to this try this:
sudo -- sh -c -e "echo '192.34.0.03 subdomain.domain.com' >> /etc/hosts";
It will still ask you for password.
alternative way from @kainjow
echo '192.34.0.03 subdomain.domain.com' | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts
Make sure to use the -i
option of sed
.
-i[SUFFIX], --in-place[=SUFFIX]
edit files in place (makes backup if extension supplied)
sed -i "2i192.241.xx.xx venus.example.com venus" /etc/hosts
Otherwise,
echo "192.241.xx.xx venus.example.com venus" >> /etc/hosts
would append the line at the end of the file, which could work as you expect.
Insert/Update Entry
If you want to programmatically insert/update a hosts entry using bash, here's a script I wrote to do that:
#!/bin/bash
# insert/update hosts entry
ip_address="192.168.x.x"
host_name="my.hostname.example.com"
# find existing instances in the host file and save the line numbers
matches_in_hosts="$(grep -n $host_name /etc/hosts | cut -f1 -d:)"
host_entry="${ip_address} ${host_name}"
echo "Please enter your password if requested."
if [ ! -z "$matches_in_hosts" ]
then
echo "Updating existing hosts entry."
# iterate over the line numbers on which matches were found
while read -r line_number; do
# replace the text of each line with the desired host entry
sudo sed -i '' "${line_number}s/.*/${host_entry} /" /etc/hosts
done <<< "$matches_in_hosts"
else
echo "Adding new hosts entry."
echo "$host_entry" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts > /dev/null
fi
The script is intended for use with OS X but would work on linux as well with minor tweaking.