KJB6@psuvm.psu.edu (05/22/91)
As a script, I would like to search a file and replace a string with another string. I know this can be done, but I have not figure out how to do it yet. Anyone have any suggestions. I think if I use awk or nawk somewhere along the line, I can get it done. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ken
hunt@dg-rtp.rtp.dg.com (Greg Hunt) (05/22/91)
In article <91141.140213KJB6@psuvm.psu.edu>, KJB6@psuvm.psu.edu writes: > > As a script, I would like to search a file and replace a string with > another string. I know this can be done, but I have not figure out how to > do it yet. Anyone have any suggestions. I think if I use awk or nawk > somewhere > along the line, I can get it done. > > Any suggestions would be appreciated. Ken, yes awk or nawk (new awk, which is better), can do the job. If it is a simple substitution, using sed might be easier, however. Try something like this: sed -e 's/old_string/new_string/g' old_file > new_file This will change every occurrence of "old_string" to "new_string" in the file. The 's' is the substitute command, and the 'g' suffix says to change all occurrences. Note that you can't actually change the existing file, you get a new file. To get the new_file renamed so that you'll be left with only a file that contains the modifications, but has the original file name, do this after the sed: mv new_file old_file Take a look at the man page for sed for more examples. The commands look much like regular expressions you might use in searches in vi. Also take a look at the man page for awk for much more sophisticated processing that you can do using a C like programming language. Try: man sed | more man awk | more Enjoy! -- Greg Hunt Internet: hunt@dg-rtp.rtp.dg.com DG/UX Kernel Development UUCP: {world}!mcnc!rti!dg-rtp!hunt Data General Corporation Research Triangle Park, NC, USA These opinions are mine, not DG's.
tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen) (05/22/91)
From the keyboard of KJB6@psuvm.psu.edu:
:
:As a script, I would like to search a file and replace a string with
:another string. I know this can be done, but I have not figure out how to
:do it yet. Anyone have any suggestions. I think if I use awk or nawk somewhere
:along the line, I can get it done.
I believe the easiest, most flexible, and most powerful solution would
be along these lines:
perl -p -i.ORIG -e 's/old/new/g' file1 file2 ...
This will globally replace all instances of "old" with "new" in
all listed files, keeping a backup copy in file1.ORIG, etc. Omit
the ".old" part if you're brave enough.
--tom
--
Tom Christiansen tchrist@convex.com convex!tchrist
"So much mail, so little time." eed_wwhh@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (William H Huggins) (05/24/91)
-- W.H. Huggins ECE Dept, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD 21218 attmail!huggin!whh, eed_wwhh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu Home: 1 E Univ. Pkwy, Baltimore MD 21218; (301)8894780 voice.
jpr@jpradley.jpr.com (Jean-Pierre Radley) (05/31/91)
In article <91141.140213KJB6@psuvm.psu.edu> KJB6@psuvm.psu.edu writes: > >As a script, I would like to search a file and replace a string with >another string. I know this can be done, but I have not figure out how to >do it yet. Anyone have any suggestions. I think if I use awk or nawk somewhere >along the line, I can get it done. The answer I'd provide is not my own, it's straight out of Kernighan & Pike. Look in their book's index for 'replace'. (They use sed for this, since awk would work but would be overkill.) Jean-Pierre Radley Unix in NYC jpr@jpr.com jpradley!jpr CIS: 72160,1341