ssh to server and switch user and change a directory

Question

I Need to ssh to a server then switch user and change the directory and then run a command. Now am doing ssh -t username@hostname "sudo su - otheruser && cd /path/to/directory && command". But this is not changing the directory it just switched the user and ran the command.

Solution

Use the -c switch to pass your command to su. A complex command must get enclosed in quotes or double quotes. Since you are already using double quotes, either use single quotes or escape the inner pair of double quotes.

Examples:

ssh -t username@hostname "sudo su - otheruser -c \"cd /path/to/directory && command\""
ssh -t username@hostname "sudo su - otheruser -c 'cd /path/to/directory && command'"
ssh -t username@hostname 'sudo su - otheruser -c "cd /path/to/directory && command"'

Comments

[Garstlig]

No offence, but I don't agree my answer is a duplicate of mentioned answer since OP's problem is not simply how to pass a command to su, but also how command concatenation and quoting work.

[Adiii]

Thanks too many questions on this topic and too many answers but that save my day.

[Roman Grinyov]

And how to leave the terminal opened under the changed user?