you can use an expect script to accomplish this... #!/usr/bin/expect -f # set force_conservative 0 ;# set to 1 to force conservative mode even if ;# script wasn't run conservatively originally if {$force_conservative} { set send_slow {1 .1} proc send {ignore arg} { sleep .1 exp_send -s -- $arg } } # set USER [exec cat user] set PASS [exec cat pass] set timeout 10 set send_slow {1 .1} # spawn $env(SHELL) match_max 100000 spawn telnet 1.2.3.4 expect -exact ":" send -s -- "$USER\r" expect -exact ":" send -s -- "$PASS\r" expect -exact "#" send -s -- "[enter commands here]\r" expect -exact ":" send -s -- "exit\r" Guillaume wrote: > Hi, > I would like to use the telnet client via with cron & script to > execute special command on a telnet server. > On telnet manual i saw the -l option used to specify the user. But i > dont find any way to give the password (of course in clear text, i > dont speak here about security). > I try several commands like > ] telnet -l $user host <passwdor > ] echo password | telnet -l $user host > ]cat passwordfile | telnet -l $user host > None of this works. Does someone can help me ? > Thanks. >