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How can I run a console command (like cp or tar, for example) without needing to keep an open SSH?

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5 Answers

up vote 10 down vote accepted 
nohup command &
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2  
You should also make sure to handle the STDIN for the command. Usually </dev/null is all you need. Without this when you exit the ssh connection you will most likely not get the prompt back on the system you initiated the connection from. Banis' -T tip below may clear this up for you too. – Aaron Bush Jul 17 '10 at 1:07
up vote 7 down vote

Depending on exactly what you want to do, screen may work out for you.

You can run the command with screen, screen command then detach that screen and terminate your ssh session. Whatever is running in that screen session will still run, and you can re-attach to that session later, from another terminal.

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up vote 2 down vote

When running commands remotely with ssh the -T option will also help.

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up vote 1 down vote

Since you don't provide a lot of detail, it is also possible that disown will do what you want.

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up vote 0 down vote

If it is a task you anticipate repeating over and over again, you can create a cron job.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron

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