Replace a variable with text (sed) - bash

I have to find a specific text in the file and then replace that text with some new text.
The contents of the file are:
host=100
servers=4
clients=70
I have tried this:
var=$(grep "servers=" /path/to/file)
sed -i "s/${var}/servers=5/g" /path/to/file
But it gives me the error:
sed: -e expression #1, char 2: unterminated `s' command
Note: All I want is to update the value of each of the variable i.e. servers=4 should be replaced by servers=5.
Please help me figure out the solution.
Thanks.

The output of grep ends with a newline character. sed expects the whole command on one line or escaping line breaks.
However, you can easily achieve the complete task with sed only:
sed -i 's/^servers=[0-9]*$/servers=5/' /path/to/file

sed -i.bak "s/servers=[0-9]*/servers=5/" /path/to/file

Related

Replace only whole line containing a string using Sed

In zabbix-agent.conf I have lines:
# Example: Server=127.0.0.1,192.168.1.0/24,::1,2001:db8::/32,zabbix.example.com
Server=127.0.0.1
I want to replace line
Server=127.0.0.1
with my
Server=zabbix.mydomain.com
But if I do
sed -i -e 's/Server=127.0.0.1/Server=zabbix.mydomain.com/g' /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf
it found also line with commented example and replace string in it. I get:
#<----->Example: Server=zabbix.mydomain.com,192.168.1.0/24,::1,2001:db8::/32,zabbix.example.com
Server=zabbix.mydomain.com
How to replace only one line?
You need to
Match the text at the start of string
Escape the dots
Remove g flag since the match will only be found at the string start.
Also, you do not need the -e option, you can use
sed -i 's/^Server=127\.0\.0\.1/Server=zabbix.mydomain.com/' /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf
See the online demo:
#!/bin/bash
s='# Example: Server=127.0.0.1,192.168.1.0/24,::1,2001:db8::/32,zabbix.example.com
Server=127.0.0.1'
sed 's/^Server=127\.0\.0\.1/Server=zabbix.mydomain.com/g' <<< "$s"
Output:
Example: Server=127.0.0.1,192.168.1.0/24,::1,2001:db8::/32,zabbix.example.com
Server=zabbix.mydomain.com
This might work for you (GNU sed):
sed -i '/^Server=127\.0\.0\.1/cServer=zabbix.mydomain.com' file
Change line beginning Server=127.0.0.1 to Server=zabbix.mydomain.com.
The other answers are almost fine but they would also replace a line like:
Server=127.0.0.10
A complete solution with any sed could be:
sed -i 's/^Server=127\.0\.0\.1$/Server=zabbix.mydomain.com/' /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf
^ and $ anchor the string to the beginning and end of line, respectively. Dots need backslash escape, else they stand for any character.

How to use sed and cat to add multi lines from one file to another

How can I use a cat and sed to read data from a file and insert it into another file under known line?
For example I have a file named script1.txt that contains a few hundred lines, one of the line has the value "COMMANDS="commands"
If I wanted use sed to insert a line under it, simply I can use sed as the command bellow.
sed -i '/^COMMANDS=.*/a NEW LINE HERE' script1.txt
But if I want to insert a multi lines and these lines inside a file, and these line changes every a few hours.. how can i do that ?
I tried:
DATA=$(cat data.txt)
sed -i '/^COMMANDS=.*/a '$DATA'' script1.txt
I got the error bellow.
sed: -e expression #1, char 1: unknown command: `"'
Is there a way other than sed to insert the data from file under known line with no issues?
This might work for you (GNU sed):
sed -i '/^COMMANDS=/r dataFile' file
This will append the contents of the file dataFile after the line beginning COMMANDS= and update file
If the data you want to append is multi-line, you might want to replace newlines with \n.
#!/bin/sh
DATA="$(awk '{gsub(/[]\/$*.^&[]/, "\\\\&");printf (FNR>1)?"\\n%s":"%s",$0}END{print ""}' data.txt)"
sed -i -e '/^COMMANDS=.*/a\' -e "$DATA" script1.txt
Here the awk command escapes sed special characters (for basic regular expressions), then prints "%s" for the first line, and "\\n%s" for the others. A newline is printed at the end, but it's somewhat pointless as $() strips it anyway.
The sed command is almost the same but multiple expressions are used which is equivalent to a multi-line sed script (The a text sed alternative syntax can act weirdly with leading spaces/backslashes).

Find and Replace string using sed gives error

I am using shell script. My requirement is to find and replace the string. The string contains "/" char as well. I am getting error sed: -e expression #1, char 18: unterminated `s' command. Can someone tell how should i replace the string which has "/"?
#!/bin/bash
...
search_string="../conf/TestSystem/Inst1.xml"
rep="Inst1/Instrument.xml"
sed -i 's|${line}|${rep}/g' MasterConfiguration.xml
I tried using another sed command but that one also gave error sed: -e expression #1, char 13: unknown option to `s'
sed -e "s/${line}/${rep}/g" MasterConfiguration.xml > tempfile
Whenever you deal with shell-variables you have to get them out of the "sed-string":
For example:
sed -e "s/"${line}"/"${rep}"/g" MasterConfiguration.xml > tempfile
Otherwise sed will treat the chars as-is and search for ${line} literally:
As you see, nothing happens here.
Furthermore, if your variables contain / you need to use another delimiter for sed. I tend to use ~ in such a case, but you're free to use other chars - just be consequent and don't mix them like in your first example-sed-command:
sed 's~'${line}'~'${rep}'/g' //WRONG
sed 's~'${line}'~'${rep}'~g' //RIGHT
Combine both and it will work:
You can try this sed,
sed -i "s#${line}#${rep}#g" MasterConfiguration.xml
Problem:
Instead you have,
sed -i "s|${line}|${rep}/g" MasterConfiguration.xml
It should be,
sed -i "s|${line}|${rep}|g" MasterConfiguration.xml
Syntax:
sed "s|pattern|replacement|g"

replace double quoted hash with sed

I have a problem replacing default password hash in config file:
sed -i 's/default_password_crypted: "[^"]*"/default_password_crypted: "\$1\$mF86/UHC\$WvcIcXred6crBz2onWxyac."/' input.txt
i get following error:
sed: -e expression #1, char 74: unknown option to `s'
works:
search pattern: default_password_crypted: "$1$mF86/UHC$WvcIcX2t6crBz2onWxyac."
sed -i 's/default_password_crypted: "[^"]*"/default_password_crypted: "1234567890"/' input.txt
how do i need to write replace pattern for hash ?
thx
You need to escape the literal / inside your replacement as it’s the delimiter:
sed -i 's/default_password_crypted: "[^"]*"/default_password_crypted: "\$1\$mF86\/UHC\$WvcIcXred6crBz2onWxyac."/' input.txt
Or simply use a different character, for example a ,:
sed -i 's,default_password_crypted: "[^"]*",default_password_crypted: "\$1\$mF86,UHC\$WvcIcXred6crBz2onWxyac.",' input.txt
You also don’t need to escape the $ inside the replacement.

replace a string in file using shell script

Suppose my file a.conf is as following
Include /1
Include /2
Include /3
I want to replace "Include /2" with a new line, I write the code in .sh file :
line="Include /2"
rep=""
sed -e "s/${line}/${rep}/g" /root/new_scripts/a.conf
But after running the sh file, It give me the following error
sed: -e expression #1, char 14: unknown option to `s'
If you are using a newer version of sed you can use -i to read from and write to the same file. Using -i you can specify a file extension so a backup will be made, incase something went wrong. Also you don't need to use the -e flag unless you are using multiple commands
sed -i.bak "s/${line}/${rep}/g" /root/new_scripts/a.conf
I have just noticed that as the variables you are using are quoted strings you may want to use single quotes around your sed expression. Also your string contains a forward slash, to avoid any errors you can use a different delimiter in your sed command (the delimiter doesn't need to be a slash):
sed -i.bak 's|${line}|${rep}|g' /root/new_scripts/a.conf
You have to write the changes to a new file and then, move the new file over the old one. Like this:
line="Include 2"
rep=""
sed -e "s/${line}/${rep}/g" /root/new_scripts/a.conf > /root/new_scripts/a.conf-new
mv /root/new_scripts/a.conf-new /root/new_scripts/a.conf
The redirection (> /root/new_scripts/a.conf) wipes the contents of the file before sed can see it.
You need to pass the -i option to sed to edit the file in-place:
sed -i "s/${line}/${rep}/g" /root/new_scripts/a.conf
You can also ask sed to create a backup of the original file:
sed -i.bak "s/${line}/${rep}/g" /root/new_scripts/a.conf
So, if you have to replace a substring in a file, you can use sed command like this, say we have a file as file.txt, so replacing a substring in it can be done like this
searchString="abc";
replaceString="def";
sed -i '' "s|$searchString|$replaceString|g" file.txt
This will all the occurrences of "abc" with "def" in file.txt. Also, this keeps a check for any / character present in the variables used, and with no backup file made.

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