Question

Writing a script to modify text in a file

Asked by: bpb25

I need help in writing a script that will modify one word of text in my users .cshrc file.  Here's what the line looks like now:  setenv NNTPSERVER oldserver, and I need to find a way to make it look like setenv NNTPSERVER newserver.  I know I can vi every file to make the necessary changes, but I have over 200 accounts, and that would take a while.  Thanks for any help you can provide.

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2003-03-18 at 05:11:02ID20554643
Tags

files

,

modify

,

nntpserver

,

text

Topic

Sun Solaris

Participating Experts
5
Points
30
Comments
11

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. cd and setenv in unix
    How are setenv and cd coded in unix?
  2. setenv via PERL
    How to set env var (setenv) in PERL script ?
  3. Modify Script for Rollover
    I have a navigation menu script located at: www.probelaw.com/navigation.txt This script opens submenus when clicked. I need it modified to open them when the mouse is moved over it. How can I modify the code to accomplish this?
  4. Shell script and VI
    I use a shell script like: #!/bin/ksh while read i do echo "" ldapsearch -b o=xyz,c=an uid=$i done < $1 ************************************************* This reads from a file like: 2 uid=jdoe 3 uid=Bburn 5 uid=JBull 2 uid=SSmith 4 uid=WOnel **********...
  5. setenv output-display help
    I am trying to set my output display to a monitor connected to the SunFire V120. And I also want to be able to see the information on console on the machine connected to the serial port (ttya). I issue the "setenv output-device mydev" commad (steps shortened), res...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: soupdragonPosted on 2003-03-18 at 05:31:25ID: 8158841

Something like

#!/usr/bin/ksh
for USER in `cat /etc/passwd | awk -F: '{ print $1 }'`
do
# cd to each home directory in turn
cd ~$USER
# Make a backup of the cshrc if it exists - just in case
if [ -f .cshrc ]
  cp -p .cshrc .cshrc.save
  # edit it using stream editor
  sed -e 's/setenv NNTPSERVER oldserver/setenv NNTPSERVER newserver/' .cshrc >.cshrc
fi
done

- Try it out with a couple first before running the script i.e for USER in 'adam joe'

SD

 

by: liddlerPosted on 2003-03-18 at 06:22:15ID: 8159132

For best practise, the sed should write to another file, rather than overwriting the original, as sometimes this can 0 the file. so
sed -e 's/setenv NNTPSERVER oldserver/setenv NNTPSERVER newserver/' .cshrc >.cshrc
should be
sed -e 's/setenv NNTPSERVER oldserver/setenv NNTPSERVER newserver/' .cshrc >.cshrc.tmp
mv .cshrc.tmp .cshrc

 

by: soupdragonPosted on 2003-03-18 at 06:28:41ID: 8159168

True, or even better since you already have a copy of the file
sed -e 's/setenv NNTPSERVER oldserver/setenv NNTPSERVER newserver/' .cshrc.save >.cshrc
fi

 

by: bpb25Posted on 2003-03-18 at 08:40:02ID: 8160214

Soupdragon,

When I try running the script, I get "syntax error at line 13 : 'fi' unexpected.  Any idea's on how to fix this?

Thanks,

Brian

 

by: bpb25Posted on 2003-03-18 at 08:57:25ID: 8160362

Soupdragon,

When I try running the script, I get "syntax error at line 13 : 'fi' unexpected.  Any idea's on how to fix this?

Thanks,

Brian

 

by: darren1031Posted on 2003-03-18 at 11:57:34ID: 8161490

You could also do it this way:

(echo ":%s/setenv NNTPSERVER oldserver/setenv NNTPSERVER newserver/"; echo ":wq") | vi -s filename

Darren

 

by: interiotPosted on 2003-03-18 at 12:55:26ID: 8161886

find /home/ -name .cshrc -print | xargs -n1 perl -i.bak -pe 's/setenv NNTPSERVER oldserver/setenv NNTPSERVER newserver/'

That will make a .cshrc.bak of the original file in each user's directory.  (which is what the -i option does)

 

by: jwelterPosted on 2003-03-18 at 13:49:43ID: 8162270

Without looking myself, and just remembering some of my own scripting, I'm thinking you need a "; then" after the if test condition, for example:

if [ condition test ]; then
command
command
fi

Otherwise, I think if just executes the next command and expects an fi???

JW

 

by: jwelterPosted on 2003-03-18 at 13:58:30ID: 8162321

hmmm -I read that too fast.  After looking at the fi problem again, actually I would suggest that the "; then" would still work, but it's not a clear description of that problem.  I think because there is no "; then", it executes the copy, then exits the if automatically, so when it hits the fi after the sed, it's like "hey I don't need you, I'm done with my if."  -Also, if it exits the if after the copy, no matter what, it's going to try and sed/edit the file & save it, so if the file didn't exist, the script would still bomb?

Food for thought...

JW

 

by: soupdragonPosted on 2003-03-18 at 14:06:31ID: 8162371

jwelter is right - I forgot my then!
should be

if [[ -f .cshrc ]]; then

 

by: bpb25Posted on 2003-03-19 at 08:26:17ID: 8167655

This ended up working great, thanks for all who responded.

Something like

#!/usr/bin/ksh
for USER in `cat /etc/passwd | awk -F: '{ print $1 }'`
do
# cd to each home directory in turn
cd ~$USER
# Make a backup of the cshrc if it exists - just in case
if [[ -f .cshrc ]]; then
 cp -p .cshrc .cshrc.save
 # edit it using stream editor
 sed -e 's/setenv NNTPSERVER oldserver/setenv NNTPSERVER newserver/' .cshrc >.cshrc
fi
done

- Try it out with a couple first before running the script i.e for USER in 'adam joe'

SD

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...