Newbie -- Unix string substitution problem

Hi, PaulS!

I literally make variable a to be equal to string "string1", for testing.  And then I want to replace "string1" with "string2".

So at the command prompt, I first write

a=string1

And then

$a =~ s/string1/string2/g

So after executing the last command, I would expect $a to be equal to "string2".  However, after executing this command, I get the error ksh: string1:  not found.

Did I manage to clear this up?  Please, let me know.  Thanks!

Evelina

OK, I misunderstood. Thanks for clearing it up.

Now are you doing this at the command prompt or in a script?

Hi again, PaulS,

I'm doing it at the command prompt, not in a script.

Evelina

OK, because the syntax you are using is akin to Perl and how you can substitute strings within a variable.

I tried the same syntax here on my Linux box and I also get an error very similar to yours. I do not think you can do that at the command prompt, but I am still working on it.

Thanks Chris,
I was just going to mention the use of sed, as this is the only way I know of to do that.

But then as Chris mentioned, using sed for something like this is a bit overkill.

I don't know if I'd agree that using sed is overkill. Sed is the standard way of doing this type of thing in sh/ksh/csh scripts.

When Perl came along, its designers decided to simply include sed's capabilities directly inside the language (notice the syntax is the same between Perl and sed here).

I'm sure ksh would have adopted this idea eventually, but Dave Korn lost interest in doing this type of updating around 10 years ago.

So, if you're doing a lot of string manipulation, just use Perl.

However, there is another way to do this without using sed.

you can use the tr command like so:

1) set the initial value of the variable: a="string1"

2) make sure it was set: echo $a (should be string1)

3) permanently change the value: a=`echo $a | tr 'string1' 'string2'`

4) verify it was changed: echo $a (should now be string2)

Hope that helps

Paul

Chris,

I meant that using sed for this type of string manipulation, simple stuff like this there are less confusing ways to alter the value of a variable then with sed.

I use sed for some very complex string manipulation when it comes to files, but not normally with variable substitution.

Sorry for the confusion

Paul

Tr translates individual characters, not entire strings. You could use it to translate '1' to '2', but it would do this for all instances of '1', not just ones attached to 'string1'.

Thanks to both of you...  I'll go ahead and use sed, since I'll probably have to do more than just the trivial string manipulation in this example.  

Also, Chris, if you don't mind me asking, in
a="$(print -r -- "$a" | sed 's/string1/string2/g')"
what does -- mean in the print command?

Thanks!
Evelina

Thank you

It means not to interpret additional arguments beginning with a '-' as options (i.e., in case $a starts with a '-').

Also, as for tr, this works because the example is so trivial. But it is still working at the character level and will make translations you don't want. For example:
  $ echo string1 fubar1 | tr 'string1' 'string2'
  string2 fubar2

You're literally saying here "translate 's' to 's', 't' to 't', 'r' to 'r', 'i' to 'i', 'n' to 'n', 'g' to 'g', and '1' to 2'

Thanks very much, Chris!  Your expertise has helped me a lot! :0)))