Automating "enter" keypresses for bash script generating ssh keys

I would like to create script, which simply runs ssh-keygen -t rsa. But how to pass to it 3 times enter?

Solution 1:

Try:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -N "" -f my.key

-N "" tells it to use an empty passphrase (the same as two of the enters in an interactive script)

-f my.key tells it to store the key into my.key (change as you see fit).

The whole thing runs without you needing to supply any enter keys :)

To send enters to an interactive script:

echo -e "\n\n\n" | ssh-keygen -t rsa

Solution 2:

a version with passphrase is:

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "comment" -P "examplePassphrase" -f "desired pathAndName" -q 

• the -q is for silent

Source is http://linux.die.net/man/1/ssh-keygen

Solution 3:

Agree with Michel Marro except that it needs some more: If the file already exists, it will still be interactive asking if it has to overwrite it.

Use the answer of this question.

yes y | ssh-keygen -q -t rsa -N '' >/dev/null

The redirection to null is necessary to silence the overwrite message.

Solution 4:

echo -e "\n"|ssh-keygen -t rsa -N ""