Two commands or command pipe command - Spawn Expect

Question

I'm trying to execute a expect script into bash script, but when I try to execute the shell without " | tee -a xxx.log " (where xxx.log is a file than I want to write to record the ssh session).

This code works fine:

comlog="ssh $USR@192.168.228.20"
expect -c"
    spawn \"$comlog\"
    expect \"Password:\"
    send \"$PASS\r\"
    interact
"

But when I try to add the "tee -a" command to save the ssh session the issue is

invalid command name "ssh"
while executing

This is the complete command where I obtain the error message

 comlog="ssh $USR@192.168.228.20 | tee -a /home/xxx.log"
 expect -c"
    spawn \"$comlog\"
    expect \"Password:\"
    send \"$PASS\r\" #Already Obteined
    interact
 "

I tried to change the "comlog" var as this ways but doesn't work :(

 cssh $USR@192.168.228.20 \| tee -a /home/xxx.log

Does anyone know another way to save the ssh session started from expect? Or how can I send those two commands in same spawn command.

Answer 1

If you want to put shell metacharacters like the pipe, you'll have to spawn a shell to handle them. Also using a here-doc can help a lot with quoting

comlog="ssh $USR@192.168.228.20 | tee -a /home/xxx.log"
expect <<"END_EXPECT"
spawn sh -c "$comlog"
... rest of expect script
END_EXPECT

Answer 2

You can capture the expect session output this way:

 comlog="ssh $USR@192.168.228.20"
 expect -c"
    spawn \"$comlog\"
    expect \"Password:\"
    send \"$PASS\r\" #Already Obteined
    interact
 " >/home/xxx.log