How to change string with sed in Bash script

Question

I have file with parameters:

key1: 'testValue'

And I want to change the value of the key1 (testValue) according to parameter.

This one is working with hard-coded value:

sed -i "s/\(key1:\).*/\1 'newValue'/"  ./myFile

I tried with dynamic value:

MY_NEW_VALUE= testNewValue
sed -i "s/\(key1:\).*/\1 ${MY_NEW_VALUE}/" ./myFile

And I got am error:

sed: -e expression #1, char 32: unknown option to `s'

this one didn't work for me sed -i "s/$key1:$.*/\1 ${MY_NEW_VALUE}/" ./myFile — user1365697, Feb 06 '19 at 11:35
`"s/(key1:).*/\1 ${MY_NEW_VALUE}/"` The `(` and `)` need to be escaped. — KamilCuk, Feb 06 '19 at 11:39
`MY_NEW_VALUE= testNewValue` → `MY_NEW_VALUE=testNewValue` — Biffen, Feb 06 '19 at 11:44
It *looks like* you run it with some value of `$MY_NEW_VALUE` that contains a slash. Could you provide a [mcve]? — Biffen, Feb 06 '19 at 11:45
As already pointed out by Biffen: It seems like your variable contains special characters for `sed` like `/`. [This answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/16951928/6770384) shows how to quote strings for `grep`. Just add `/` as a special character to be quoted and you should be fine. — Socowi, Feb 06 '19 at 12:01
Esacpe `(` like `$` like in `"s/\(key1:$.*/\1 ${MY_NEW_VALUE}/"`. The `"s/(key1:).*/\1 ${MY_NEW_VALUE}/"` is invalid. — KamilCuk, Feb 06 '19 at 12:07
@Robc - I tried this one and it didn't work sed -i -e "s/$key1r:$.*/\1 ${MY_NEW_VALUE}/" ./myFile — user1365697, Feb 06 '19 at 12:07
@Robc - sed -i -e "s/$key1:$.*/\1 ${MY_NEW_VALUE}/" ./file — user1365697, Feb 06 '19 at 12:12
This is the error sed: -e expression #1, char 32: unknown option to `s' — user1365697, Feb 06 '19 at 12:13

TheAlphaGhost · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-06T11:59:48.427

0

Working here:

root@foo:~# cat /tmp/c
key1: 'testValue'

root@foo:~# MY_NEW_VALUE="testNewValue"; cat /tmp/c | sed -s "s/\(key1:\).*/\1 '${MY_NEW_VALUE}'/"
key1: 'testNewValue'

Edit: Change your line:

MY_NEW_VALUE= testNewValue

to

MY_NEW_VALUE="testNewValue"

edited Feb 06 '19 at 11:59

answered Feb 06 '19 at 11:49

TheAlphaGhost

151
10

I tried but it didn't work for me the same error – user1365697 Feb 06 '19 at 12:11
Can you post the result from "env", please. – TheAlphaGhost Feb 06 '19 at 12:13
It run on docker and I call to script – user1365697 Feb 06 '19 at 12:17
1
Or try replace the slashes with #:
```
sed -i "s#$key1:$.*#\1 ${MY_NEW_VALUE}#" ./myFile
```
– TheAlphaGhost Feb 06 '19 at 12:18
what do you mean ? – user1365697 Feb 06 '19 at 12:19
You are into the docker container ? Or call the command with exec -it ? Please post your docker command. – TheAlphaGhost Feb 06 '19 at 12:46

How to change string with sed in Bash script

1 Answers1