Question

Bash script - replace a string within a file

Asked by: AnimatorOne

Hello. Using bash, I would like to check all the files in /data directory for the words: basher one

and replace them with the words: smasher two

Any ideas?

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Asked On
2005-01-31 at 13:26:56ID21295954
Tags

replace

,

bash

,

string

,

script

,

file

Topic

Linux Programming

Participating Experts
4
Points
125
Comments
15

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Answers

 

by: TintinPosted on 2005-01-31 at 15:38:18ID: 13188220

for file in $(grep "basher one" /data/*)
do
  sed 's/basher one/smasher two/g' $file >/tmp/$$ && mv /tmp/$$ $file
done

 

by: wesly_chenPosted on 2005-01-31 at 23:01:05ID: 13190211

Hi,

   Here is use perl.
---
#!/bin/sh

for Files in `find /data -type f`
do
  perl -i -pe 's/basher one/smasher two/g' $Files
done
----

Wesly

 

by: AnimatorOnePosted on 2005-02-01 at 06:07:22ID: 13192496

Thanks for the comments. I have to use bash. Tintin, I get an error with the bash script. It reads,

sed: can't read /samba/ISO/search_test.txt:search: No such file or directory
sed: can't read string: No such file or directory

The file, search_test.txt, that it is referring to has the search string in it, so its getting that far. I put the search string (which is actually search string) in search_test.txt, under the directory /samba/ISO

My script is as follows:

for file in $(grep "search string" /samba/ISO/*)
do
  sed 's/search string/replace string/g' $file >/tmp/$$ && mv /tmp/$$ $file
done

 

by: TintinPosted on 2005-02-01 at 14:42:54ID: 13198226

Whoops.  I forgot the -l flag for grep to list the file it matches.  

Change to:

for file in $(grep -l "search string" /samba/ISO/*)

 

by: wesly_chenPosted on 2005-02-01 at 14:58:58ID: 13198327

> Thanks for the comments. I have to use bash.
Bourne shell (sh) scripts is fully compatible with bash (Bourne Again SHell).
You can simply change  "#!/bin/sh"  to
#!/bin/bash

Wesly

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2005-02-02 at 08:40:10ID: 13204950

# Tintin's suggestion for any sh:

for file in `grep -l "basher one" /data/*`; do
  sed 's/basher one/smasher two/g' $file >/tmp/$$ && mv /tmp/$$ $file
done

 

by: wesly_chenPosted on 2005-02-02 at 09:03:50ID: 13205234

Mine is for any sh, too.  :-)

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2005-02-02 at 09:10:20ID: 13205303

agreed (as usual:)

 

by: TintinPosted on 2005-02-02 at 17:08:39ID: 13209848

AnimatorOne.

Not complaining, but just curious why you gave ahoffmann the points when I already gave you the answer.

 

by: AnimatorOnePosted on 2005-02-02 at 17:24:51ID: 13209955

I apologize Tintin. You should complain! I selected the wrong comment. Please look for another question with the subject "Points for Tintin" make a comment in it and I will accept your comment to pass along another correct questionf or you.

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2005-02-02 at 23:05:22ID: 13211300

I'll inform the PE to reopen the question so that you can grade the proper one.

 

by: AnimatorOnePosted on 2005-02-03 at 05:12:47ID: 13213640

Thank you ahoffman, you're the best, but I want you to keep the points. It is my mistake.

 

by: mBfPosted on 2005-03-16 at 06:40:27ID: 13555573

What if we need the same thing but recursivle?
How we can modify the shell script in such a way that it echo the modified file back into its original directory?

Cheers,
Hossam

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2005-03-16 at 06:53:52ID: 13555739

>.. modified file back into its original directory?
not that simple, shell and/or OS and/or filesystem problem
either use:
  sed ... infile>outfile&&mv infile outfile
or
  perl -i -e ... infile

 

by: mBfPosted on 2005-03-16 at 07:02:48ID: 13555819

I have made a new question for this case.
Please check http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Programming_Platforms/Linux_Programming/Q_21352881.html

Cheers,
Hossam

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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