Question

Need help adding slashes to variable

Asked by: rae_rae

I have a variable with a string in it like this:
findstr = http://asdf

I need to add slashes to this string. I want to do it with sed if possible. Please help.

I found an example of how to do this with other characters below...

var = `echo $var | sed s/@/\\/@/g | sed s/\\./\\/\\./g`

                                  
1:

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Asked On
2009-08-18 at 14:13:41ID24662998
Tags

bash

,

variable

,

sed

,

replace

,

slashes

,

escape

Topic

Bourne-Again Shell (bash)

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
18

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Answers

 

by: omarfaridPosted on 2009-08-18 at 14:21:20ID: 25127816

what is the output you expect by adding slashes?

 

by: rae_raePosted on 2009-08-18 at 14:22:50ID: 25127822

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-08-18 at 14:23:57ID: 25127830

Do you mean something like

findstr='http://adsf'
newstr="$findstr///"

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-08-18 at 14:25:34ID: 25127840

var=$(echo $findstr |  sed s#/#\\\\/#g)

 

by: omarfaridPosted on 2009-08-18 at 14:27:34ID: 25127857

so you want to remove or add slashes?

for adding

var=`echo $var | sed 's#:#://#`

for deleting

var=`echo $var | sed 's#://#:#`

please do not add space brfore or after =

 

by: rae_raePosted on 2009-08-18 at 14:41:57ID: 25127964

Tintin, for some reason the script doesn't run. It just hangs when I add this.

omarfarid, you're missing a quote somewhere

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-08-18 at 14:45:44ID: 25127988

Did you copy/paste correctly?

What is the output of

bash -x yourscript

 

by: ozoPosted on 2009-08-18 at 14:48:19ID: 25128005

echo ${findstr//\//\\/}

 

by: ozoPosted on 2009-08-18 at 14:50:41ID: 25128020

var=${findstr//\//\\/}

 

by: rae_raePosted on 2009-08-18 at 15:22:10ID: 25128216

Tintin,
my apologies, I seemingly did not copy it correctly initially.
However, now nothing is being replaced.

I have:
findstr=$(echo $findstr |  sed s#/#\\\\/#g)
replacestr=$(echo $replacestr|  sed s#/#\\\\/#g)
sed -e "s/$findstr/$replacestr/g" filename

This just prints out the contents of the filename

 

by: ozoPosted on 2009-08-18 at 15:33:31ID: 25128278

what is in $findstr and $replacestr before doing
findstr=$(echo $findstr |  sed s#/#\\\\/#g)
replacestr=$(echo $replacestr|  sed s#/#\\\\/#g)
could you instead do

sed -e "s#$findstr#$replacestr#g" filename

 

by: rae_raePosted on 2009-08-18 at 15:37:10ID: 25128292

ozo,
No I don't think I can do it that way because this is a database file and I'm replacing URLs inside it...or any text I pass that may have forward slashes.

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-08-18 at 15:38:22ID: 25128297

Let's go back a few steps and tell us what you are actually trying to achieve.

 

by: ozoPosted on 2009-08-18 at 15:40:22ID: 25128309

what is in $findstr and $replacestr, and what is a line in filename that just prints out?

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-08-18 at 15:41:18ID: 25128316

Using my crystal ball, you are trying to change URL's like

http://example.com

to

http://mydomain.com

If so, then you can simply do:

findstr='http://example.com'
rplstr='http://mydomain.com'
echo $findstr | sed s#$findstr#$rplstr#

 

by: rae_raePosted on 2009-08-18 at 16:11:24ID: 25128443

findstr and replacestr both have urls in them. just like the previous comment suggest by Tintin.

The issue is that the contents of filename need to be replaced with replacestr. So, I think we really need to go back to:
findstr=$(echo $findstr |  sed s#/#\\\\/#g)
replacestr=$(echo $replacestr|  sed s#/#\\\\/#g)
sed -e "s/$findstr/$replacestr/g" filename

The first two lines add the slashes needed. I just need to get sed to find/replace in filename.

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-08-18 at 16:19:53ID: 25128473

OK, no need for adding backslashes.  All you need to do is

sed "s#$findstr#$replacestr#g" filename

 

by: omarfaridPosted on 2009-08-18 at 20:30:42ID: 25129443

yes you are correct, here the corrected one

for adding

var=`echo $var | sed 's#:#://#'`

for deleting

var=`echo $var | sed 's#://#:#'`

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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