A shorter version of the same thing: Host *%* Proxycommand bash -c "h=%h; ssh \${h%%\\%%*} nc \${h##*%%} %p" It would be shorter and cleaner if I knew a

A shorter version of the same thing: Host *%* Proxycommand bash -c "h=%h; ssh \${h%%\\%%*} nc \${h##*%%} %p" It would be shorter and cleaner if I knew a way to apply string operators on a constant string rather than defining the intermediate variable $h.