How to pass parameters with quotes via ssh

Question

When I run a script in my Linux server as follow:

./myscript \"hello\"

The script then receives the parameter as "hello". Now, I want to be able to run this script remotely from a different host via ssh. If the ssh connection was Linux to Linux, the following works:

ssh remote-host ./myscript \\\"hello\\\"

However, if you ssh connection was Windows 10 to Linux. The above does not work, the remote script receives the parameter as \hello"--note the extra backslash and missing double quote. I have tried the following and none works:

ssh remote-host ./myscript \\\"hello\\\"
ssh remote-host ./myscript ^"hello^"
ssh remote-host ./myscript ""hello""
ssh remote-host ./myscript '"hello"'

The only workaround I can think of is to create another shell script which contains:

./myscript \"hello\"

Then scp this script to the remote Linux server and execute it there. So, is there a way for me to properly quote my arguments?

Answer 1

You can use following convenient wrapper script ssh.sh

cat <<'EOF' > ssh.sh
#!/bin/bash

function escape() {
  for arg in "$@"; do
    printf "%q " "$arg"
  done
}

ssh $(escape "$@")
EOF

chmod +x ssh.sh

Then you can safely call ssh via the ssh.sh, without worrying about escaping.

e.g.,

./ssh.sh host sh -c 'ls /'

Compare to standard ssh,

ssh host sh -c 'ls /'

does not work, it need be converted to

ssh host sh -c \'ls /\'