replace xml value with sed

Question

I would like to replace value in XML file. Sample XML

<Console>
                <!-- REQUIRED PARAMETERS -->
                <!-- Enter the node that you are running the installation program from. This value must be a fully qualified name, which includes a host name and domain name. For example, node001.server.name.com.-->
                <node>node.sample.ibm.com</node>

                <!-- Enter the domain name of the cluster as a single dot-separated string. For example, server.name.com. -->
        <sso-domain-name>sample.ibm.com</sso-domain-name>

        <!-- Set this property to true if your InfoSphere BigInsights Console uses HTTPS. Otherwise, enter false. -->
                <https>false</https>

        <!-- management-console-port specifies which port is used by the Management Console. -->
        <management-console-port>8080</management-console-port>

I would like to replace value. I tried with following but its not working. Any help appreciated.

sed -i "/<Console>/,/<\/Console>/ s/<node>[0-9][a-z]\+/<node>newvalue

Not an answer to your question. But you could also use 'xmllint' on the command line. This handles with the XML structure directly. — Wintermute, May 09 '14 at 08:48
Don't [summon Cthulhu](http://blog.codinghorror.com/parsing-html-the-cthulhu-way/). — Etheryte, May 09 '14 at 08:52
@Wintermute for simple XML [xml2](http://www.ofb.net/~egnor/xml2/) works very well — towi, May 09 '14 at 12:48

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered May 09 '14 at 09:24

13

sed -i -e '/<Console>/,/<\/Console>/ s|<node>[0-9a-z.]\{1,\}</node>|<node>newvalue</node>|g' YourFile

i assume value is between your tag and and only contain small letter, dot and digit (based on your sample and try). If extended, just add character missing in the class like [0-9a-z._-A-Z:] and maybe sub-class [:space:]

if newvalue is a variable content, dont forget to use double quote and escape character &, \ and the separator of sed s action (default is / and | in my code)

answered May 09 '14 at 09:24

NeronLeVelu

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Thanks NeronLeVelu , it worked – Vinod May 10 '14 at 10:25
Yes newvalue is a variable, how would it be in that case ? – Vinod May 10 '14 at 10:40
if NewValue does not contain & \, just replace the surrounding simple quote by double quote on sed action. If it contain those char, escape them before using it in the string and use double quote – NeronLeVelu May 12 '14 at 07:16
Thanks a lot NeronLeVelu. It worked. – Vinod May 12 '14 at 07:34

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered May 09 '14 at 20:37

8

You could use xmlstarlet:

xmlstarlet ed -u //Console/node -v 'new value'

(Or something similar)

answered May 09 '14 at 20:37

BeniBela

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towi · Answer 3 · 2014-05-09T18:24:25.810

1

Simple XML can be handled with the xml2 suite quite well.

You can translate an XML into a line-based format and work on that like you are used to. i.e.:

xml2 < x.xml | perl -pe 's|^(/Console/node=)(.*)$|$1newvalue|g' | 2xml > y.xml

I am not so versed in sed I am sure you can replace perl with sed easily.

edited May 09 '14 at 18:24

answered May 09 '14 at 12:57

towi

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Very interesting. But I'd prefer a perl-less solution ;-) – choroba May 09 '14 at 14:59
@choroba good point. but I am even less able with sed :-) – towi May 09 '14 at 18:23

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 09 '14 at 08:50

0

Use a proper XML parser. E.g., here is what I would do in xsh:

open 1.xml ;
for //Console/node {
    if xsh:matches(., '[0-9][a-z]+') set text() 'newvalue' ;
}
save :b ;

answered May 09 '14 at 08:50

choroba

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very interesting. But I would prefer a perl-less solution. – towi May 09 '14 at 12:49

replace xml value with sed

4 Answers4

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