CkPython

Receive an SSH Channel Until Close

Demonstrates the Chilkat Ssh.ChannelReceiveToClose method, which receives data on a channel until the server sends and Chilkat processes channel CLOSE. The only argument is the channel number. EOF alone does not complete this method.

Important: Set the ReadTimeoutMs property before calling this method. It defaults to 0, meaning no limit, so without it the call waits forever if the server never sends channel close.

Background: This is the simplest and most reliable way to collect the complete output of a one-shot exec command, because the server closes the channel when the command finishes. It is not appropriate for an interactive shell, which never closes on its own — use the poll-based methods there instead. Both stdout and stderr are processed, merged or kept separate according to StderrToStdout.

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import sys
import chilkat

success = False

#  Demonstrates the Ssh.ChannelReceiveToClose method, which receives data on a channel until the
#  server sends channel CLOSE.  The only argument is the channel number.  EOF alone does not
#  complete this method.

ssh = chilkat.CkSsh()

sshPort = 22
success = ssh.Connect("ssh.example.com",sshPort)
if (success == False):
    print(ssh.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

#  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
#  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
password = "mySshPassword"

success = ssh.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password)
if (success == False):
    print(ssh.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

channelNum = ssh.OpenSessionChannel()
if (channelNum < 0):
    print(ssh.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

success = ssh.SendReqExec(channelNum,"ls -l /tmp")
if (success == False):
    print(ssh.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

#  IMPORTANT: Set a read timeout.  ReadTimeoutMs defaults to 0, which means no limit -- without
#  it, this call waits forever if the server never sends channel close.
ssh.put_ReadTimeoutMs(15000)

#  Receive everything the command produces, up to and including channel close.
success = ssh.ChannelReceiveToClose(channelNum)
if (success == False):
    print(ssh.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

output = ssh.getReceivedText(channelNum,"utf-8")
if (ssh.get_LastMethodSuccess() == False):
    print(ssh.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

print(output)

ssh.Disconnect()