How to replace special characters in a string using sed command in bash

Question

I am passing a value to a .sh file as an argument (the file contains follows).

ESCAPED_REPLACE=$(printf '%s\n' "$1" | sed -e 's+$+\\$+g; s+(+\\(+g; s+"+\\"+g')
echo $ESCAPED_REPLACE

I basically want to replace every $ with \$ and every ( with \(.

If I pass Ver$ify

./code.sh "Ver$ify"

I am getting Ver\$ printed which should be Ver\$ify does anyone know the reason for this?

Answer 1

Research the difference between single and double quotes, see https://shellcheck.net, re-read a good introduction to shell scripting.

You do not pass Ver$ify, you are passing Ver with the result of ify variable. Use single quotes.

./code.sh 'Ver$ify'

I basically want to replace every $ with \$ and every ( with \(

sed 's/[$(]/\\&/g'