I Want to search variable and replace with its absolute path in file.
setenv ABC /home/xyz
cat file.txt
${ABC}/Test/Folder_1
${ABC}/Test/Folder_2
I want to replace all occurance of the ${ABC} by /home/xyz.
I tried by the below mentioned way, but does not work,
sed -i 's/\$ABC/echo $ABC/g' file.txt
I can do by below mentioned way, but I do not want to do this way.(I have to put so many back slash)
$ echo $ABC | sed -i 's/\$ABC/\/home\/xyz/g' file.txt
Please give me some suggestion for this question.
Thank You.
If you really want to use the value from a variable in your replacement string, you could use
sed "s#\${ABC}#$ABC#g" file.txt
Character after s in sed is the delimiter and it can be any one character of your choice and it works as long as it's not in the string-to-be-matched and string-to-be-replaced.
Example :
sed 's:string-to-be-matched:string-to-be-replaced:g' file-to-be-edited
: is the delimiter
g means global replacement.
In your case, as the string-to-be-replaced contains the / , the same you are using as sed delimiter.
Simple Solution will be :
sed -i 's:${ABC}:'"$ABC"':g' fill.txt
'" is at either end of $ABC in the replacement string. Purpose is to expand shell variable to use with sed
Another way to get the absolute path is readlink -f ${ABC}/Test/Folder_2
Or the perl alternative to your slash hungry command
$ echo $ABC | sed -i 's/\$ABC/\/home\/xyz/g' file.txt
would be
$ echo $ABC | perl -p -i -e 's!\$ABC!/home/xyz!g'
the first character after the 's above will be used as the delimiter in the replacement expression (i.e. 's#foo#bar#g')
Related
I am using the below code for replacing a string
inside a shell script.
echo $LINE | sed -e 's/12345678/"$replace"/g'
but it's getting replaced with $replace instead of the value of that variable.
Could anybody tell what went wrong?
If you want to interpret $replace, you should not use single quotes since they prevent variable substitution.
Try:
echo $LINE | sed -e "s/12345678/${replace}/g"
Transcript:
pax> export replace=987654321
pax> echo X123456789X | sed "s/123456789/${replace}/"
X987654321X
pax> _
Just be careful to ensure that ${replace} doesn't have any characters of significance to sed (like / for instance) since it will cause confusion unless escaped. But if, as you say, you're replacing one number with another, that shouldn't be a problem.
you can use the shell (bash/ksh).
$ var="12345678abc"
$ replace="test"
$ echo ${var//12345678/$replace}
testabc
Not specific to the question, but for folks who need the same kind of functionality expanded for clarity from previous answers:
# create some variables
str="someFileName.foo"
find=".foo"
replace=".bar"
# notice the the str isn't prefixed with $
# this is just how this feature works :/
result=${str//$find/$replace}
echo $result
# result is: someFileName.bar
str="someFileName.sally"
find=".foo"
replace=".bar"
result=${str//$find/$replace}
echo $result
# result is: someFileName.sally because ".foo" was not found
Found a graceful solution.
echo ${LINE//12345678/$replace}
Single quotes are very strong. Once inside, there's nothing you can do to invoke variable substitution, until you leave. Use double quotes instead:
echo $LINE | sed -e "s/12345678/$replace/g"
Let me give you two examples.
Using sed:
#!/bin/bash
LINE="12345678HI"
replace="Hello"
echo $LINE | sed -e "s/12345678/$replace/g"
Without Using sed:
LINE="12345678HI"
str_to_replace="12345678"
replace_str="Hello"
result=${str//$str_to_replace/$replace_str}
echo $result
Hope you will find it helpful!
echo $LINE | sed -e 's/12345678/'$replace'/g'
you can still use single quotes, but you have to "open" them when you want the variable expanded at the right place. otherwise the string is taken "literally" (as #paxdiablo correctly stated, his answer is correct as well)
To let your shell expand the variable, you need to use double-quotes like
sed -i "s#12345678#$replace#g" file.txt
This will break if $replace contain special sed characters (#, \). But you can preprocess $replace to quote them:
replace_quoted=$(printf '%s' "$replace" | sed 's/[#\]/\\\0/g')
sed -i "s#12345678#$replace_quoted#g" file.txt
I had a similar requirement to this but my replace var contained an ampersand. Escaping the ampersand like this solved my problem:
replace="salt & pepper"
echo "pass the salt" | sed "s/salt/${replace/&/\&}/g"
use # if you want to replace things like /. $ etc.
result=$(echo $str | sed "s#$oldstr#$newstr#g")
the above code will replace all occurrences of the specified replacement term
if you want, remove the ending g which means that the only first occurrence will be replaced.
Use this instead
echo $LINE | sed -e 's/12345678/$replace/g'
this works for me just simply remove the quotes
I prefer to use double quotes , as single quptes are very powerful as we used them if dont able to change anything inside it or can invoke the variable substituion .
so use double quotes instaed.
echo $LINE | sed -e "s/12345678/$replace/g"
I'm trying to use this code
sed "s/\!{2,}/\!/g" "s/\?{2,}/\?/g" "s/\.{2,}/\./g" file.txt
It almost work, but it doesn't replace the dot
-The input would be like
Hello!!! How are you?? .....
-And the output should be
Hello! How are you?.
$ echo "Hello!!! How are you?? ....." | sed -r 's/\.+/./g; s/\?+/?/g; s/!+/!/g'
Hello! How are you? .
add backslashes before the curly braces { and }
sed uses posix basic regular expressions, whose syntax require a backslash before braces (and grouping parentheses) to give them special meaning.
Otherwise it matches the literal characters { and }
echo -n foo | sed -e 's/o\{2,\}/o/g'
my answer might be a little "off tag", using tr seems the shortest route here
tr -s '?.!'
using tr with a file
tr -s '?.!' < '/root/Desktop/test'
An example with echo
echo 'hello!!! my name is John...how are you??'| tr -s '?.!'
output
hello! my name is John.how are you?
# posix
sed 's/\([.?!]\)\1\{1,\}/\1/g' file.txt
# GNU
sed 's/\([.?!]\)\1+/\1/g' file.txt
use maybe class for 1 action for all at once
I saw someone use an expression like: sed -e 's, *$,,'
does anybody know why we can use it like this, and what does it do?
I thought the s command should be sed -e 'addr,addrs/reg/sub/' ?
From Using different delimiters in sed:
sed takes whatever follows the "s" as the separator
It is a good way to avoid escaping too much. Code is more readable if you use a delimiter that is not present in the string you want to handle.
For example let's say we want to replace lo/bye from a string. With / as delimiter it would be a little messy:
$ echo "hello/bye" | sed 's/lo\/bye/aa/g'
helaa
So if we define another separator it is more clear:
$ echo "hello/bye" | sed 's|lo/bye|aa|g'
helaa
$ echo "hello/bye" | sed 's,lo/bye,aa,g'
helaa
I have a string variable x=tmp/variable/custom-sqr-sample/test/example
in the script, what I want to do is to replace all the “-” with the /,
after that,I should get the following string
x=tmp/variable/custom/sqr/sample/test/example
Can anyone help me?
I tried the following syntax
it didnot work
exa=tmp/variable/custom-sqr-sample/test/example
exa=$(echo $exa|sed 's/-///g')
sed basically supports any delimiter, which comes in handy when one tries to match a /, most common are |, # and #, pick one that's not in the string you need to work on.
$ echo $x
tmp/variable/custom-sqr-sample/test/example
$ sed 's#-#/#g' <<< $x
tmp/variable/custom/sqr/sample/test/example
In the commend you tried above, all you need is to escape the slash, i.e.
echo $exa | sed 's/-/\//g'
but choosing a different delimiter is nicer.
The tr tool may be a better choice than sed in this case:
x=tmp/variable/custom-sqr-sample/test/example
echo "$x" | tr -- - /
(The -- isn't strictly necessary, but keeps tr (and humans) from mistaking - for an option.)
In bash, you can use parameter substitution:
$ exa=tmp/variable/custom-sqr-sample/test/example
$ exa=${exa//-/\/}
$ echo $exa
tmp/variable/custom/sqr/sample/test/example
If I run these commands from a script:
#my.sh
PWD=bla
sed 's/xxx/'$PWD'/'
...
$ ./my.sh
xxx
bla
it is fine.
But, if I run:
#my.sh
sed 's/xxx/'$PWD'/'
...
$ ./my.sh
$ sed: -e expression #1, char 8: Unknown option to `s'
I read in tutorials that to substitute environment variables from shell you need to stop, and 'out quote' the $varname part so that it is not substituted directly, which is what I did, and which works only if the variable is defined immediately before.
How can I get sed to recognize a $var as an environment variable as it is defined in the shell?
Your two examples look identical, which makes problems hard to diagnose. Potential problems:
You may need double quotes, as in sed 's/xxx/'"$PWD"'/'
$PWD may contain a slash, in which case you need to find a character not contained in $PWD to use as a delimiter.
To nail both issues at once, perhaps
sed 's#xxx#'"$PWD"'#'
In addition to Norman Ramsey's answer, I'd like to add that you can double-quote the entire string (which may make the statement more readable and less error prone).
So if you want to search for 'foo' and replace it with the content of $BAR, you can enclose the sed command in double-quotes.
sed 's/foo/$BAR/g'
sed "s/foo/$BAR/g"
In the first, $BAR will not expand correctly while in the second $BAR will expand correctly.
Another easy alternative:
Since $PWD will usually contain a slash /, use | instead of / for the sed statement:
sed -e "s|xxx|$PWD|"
You can use other characters besides "/" in substitution:
sed "s#$1#$2#g" -i FILE
一. bad way: change delimiter
sed 's/xxx/'"$PWD"'/'
sed 's:xxx:'"$PWD"':'
sed 's#xxx#'"$PWD"'#'
maybe those not the final answer,
you can not known what character will occur in $PWD, / : OR #.
if delimiter char in $PWD, they will break the expression
the good way is replace(escape) the special character in $PWD.
二. good way: escape delimiter
for example:
try to replace URL as $url (has : / in content)
x.com:80/aa/bb/aa.js
in string $tmp
URL
A. use / as delimiter
escape / as \/ in var (before use in sed expression)
## step 1: try escape
echo ${url//\//\\/}
x.com:80\/aa\/bb\/aa.js #escape fine
echo ${url//\//\/}
x.com:80/aa/bb/aa.js #escape not success
echo "${url//\//\/}"
x.com:80\/aa\/bb\/aa.js #escape fine, notice `"`
## step 2: do sed
echo $tmp | sed "s/URL/${url//\//\\/}/"
URL
echo $tmp | sed "s/URL/${url//\//\/}/"
URL
OR
B. use : as delimiter (more readable than /)
escape : as \: in var (before use in sed expression)
## step 1: try escape
echo ${url//:/\:}
x.com:80/aa/bb/aa.js #escape not success
echo "${url//:/\:}"
x.com\:80/aa/bb/aa.js #escape fine, notice `"`
## step 2: do sed
echo $tmp | sed "s:URL:${url//:/\:}:g"
x.com:80/aa/bb/aa.js
With your question edit, I see your problem. Let's say the current directory is /home/yourname ... in this case, your command below:
sed 's/xxx/'$PWD'/'
will be expanded to
sed `s/xxx//home/yourname//
which is not valid. You need to put a \ character in front of each / in your $PWD if you want to do this.
Actually, the simplest thing (in GNU sed, at least) is to use a different separator for the sed substitution (s) command. So, instead of s/pattern/'$mypath'/ being expanded to s/pattern//my/path/, which will of course confuse the s command, use s!pattern!'$mypath'!, which will be expanded to s!pattern!/my/path!. I’ve used the bang (!) character (or use anything you like) which avoids the usual, but-by-no-means-your-only-choice forward slash as the separator.
Dealing with VARIABLES within sed
[root#gislab00207 ldom]# echo domainname: None > /tmp/1.txt
[root#gislab00207 ldom]# cat /tmp/1.txt
domainname: None
[root#gislab00207 ldom]# echo ${DOMAIN_NAME}
dcsw-79-98vm.us.oracle.com
[root#gislab00207 ldom]# cat /tmp/1.txt | sed -e 's/domainname: None/domainname: ${DOMAIN_NAME}/g'
--- Below is the result -- very funny.
domainname: ${DOMAIN_NAME}
--- You need to single quote your variable like this ...
[root#gislab00207 ldom]# cat /tmp/1.txt | sed -e 's/domainname: None/domainname: '${DOMAIN_NAME}'/g'
--- The right result is below
domainname: dcsw-79-98vm.us.oracle.com
VAR=8675309
echo "abcde:jhdfj$jhbsfiy/.hghi$jh:12345:dgve::" |\
sed 's/:[0-9]*:/:'$VAR':/1'
where VAR contains what you want to replace the field with
I had similar problem, I had a list and I have to build a SQL script based on template (that contained #INPUT# as element to replace):
for i in LIST
do
awk "sub(/\#INPUT\#/,\"${i}\");" template.sql >> output
done
If your replacement string may contain other sed control characters, then a two-step substitution (first escaping the replacement string) may be what you want:
PWD='/a\1&b$_' # these are problematic for sed
PWD_ESC=$(printf '%s\n' "$PWD" | sed -e 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')
echo 'xxx' | sed "s/xxx/$PWD_ESC/" # now this works as expected
for me to replace some text against the value of an environment variable in a file with sed works only with quota as the following:
sed -i 's/original_value/'"$MY_ENVIRNONMENT_VARIABLE"'/g' myfile.txt
BUT when the value of MY_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE contains a URL (ie https://andreas.gr) then the above was not working.
THEN use different delimiter:
sed -i "s|original_value|$MY_ENVIRNONMENT_VARIABLE|g" myfile.txt