Automating “enter” keypresses for bash script generating ssh keys

Question

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

Answer 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

Answer 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

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

It is recommended to use ed25519 for security and performance.

yes "y" | ssh-keygen -o -a 100 -t ed25519 -C "Bla Bla" -f /mypath/bla -N ""

here

-o OpenSSH key format instead of older PEM (needs OpenSSH 6.5+)

-a Number of primality test while screening DH-GEX candidates

-t Type of key (ed25519, RSA, DSA etc.)

-f /mypath/bla The output file path and name

-N "" Use empty passphase

and yes "y" for no interaction.

It will generate two files

/mypath/bla
/mypath/bla.pub

where the bla file is private and bla.pub is public.

Answer 5

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.