want to escape forward slash, i tired but not working.. statement garbled

vaibhavs17 · 05-02-2011, 09:59 AM

Hi Team,
could you please help on below? I am trying to use sed command to repalce one string with other but somehow replacement string contains forwards slash hence getting the error statement garbled!
please help

from_row contains /wu9m<h-8$

Fix is require at
sql_text=`cat $staging_population_program | head -$before_lines | sed "s/\&\&1/$from_row/" | sed "s/\&\&2/$to_row/" | sed "s/\&\&3/$region/"`

nygespappd29:/data/apps/pnbos/scripts > ./populate_staging_posn.ksh -C /data/apps/pnbos/config/HK_EOD.cfg -f C
ALCSTG

START ./populate_staging_posn.ksh at Monday, May 2, 2011 03:07:30 PM BST
--> Running Staging POSN for ASIA at Monday, May 2, 2011 03:07:30 PM BST
--> Loading profit centres at Monday, May 2, 2011 03:07:30 PM BST
--> Splitting for multiple engines at Monday, May 2, 2011 03:07:48 PM BST
--> Running multiple engines at Monday, May 2, 2011 03:07:51 PM BST
sed: command garbled: s/\&\&2//wu9m<h-8$/
sed: command garbled: s/\&\&2//wu9m<h-8$/
sed: command garbled: s/\&\&1//wuCm<h-8$/
sed: command garbled: s/\&\&1//wuCm<h-8$/

David the H. · 05-02-2011, 10:16 AM

First of all, please use [code][/code] tags around your code, to preserve formatting and to improve readability.

As for your problem, sed can use any basic ascii character as a separator, not just "s/x/y/". Try using "s|x|y|" instead, for example.

Also,
$(..) is recommended over `..`

PS: sed also has a -e option for applying multiple expressions at once. No need to pipe it through three instances.

vaibhavs17 · 05-02-2011, 11:14 AM

It is still not working, I tried what you have suggested:

Code:

 
#!/bin/ksh

from_row='/wu9m<h-8$'
to_row='Hi'
echo $from_row
sed "s|to_row|$from_row"
echo $to_row


nygespappd29:/data/apps/pnbos/scripts > ./hello.sh
/wu9m<h-8$
sed: command garbled: s|to_row|/wu9m<h-8$
Hi

I tired this as well, it hung:

Code:

#!/bin/ksh

from_row='/wu9m<h-8$'
to_row='Hi'
#echo $from_row
sed "s|to_row|$from_row|"
echo $to_row
echo "vaibhav"
exit 0
nygespappd29:/data/apps/pnbos/scripts > ./hello.sh

Quote:

Originally Posted by David the H.

First of all, please use [code][/code] tags around your code, to preserve formatting and to improve readability.

As for your problem, sed can use any basic ascii character as a separator, not just "s/x/y/". Try using "s|x|y|" instead, for example.

Also,
$(..) is recommended over `..`

PS: sed also has a -e option for applying multiple expressions at once. No need to pipe it through three instances.

catkin · 05-02-2011, 12:01 PM

Robhogg · 05-02-2011, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vaibhavs17

It is still not working, I tried what you have suggested:

Code:

 
...
echo $from_row
sed "s|to_row|$from_row" # there is no closing pipe character on the command here
echo $to_row
...

I tired this as well, it hung:

Code:

#!/bin/ksh
...
sed "s|to_row|$from_row|" # it's hanging because sed is waiting for something to process
                          # The original code you gave, piped the output from a cat command
                          # through sed. Also, this will replace the text-literal "to_row",
                          # not the contents of the variable $to_row
...

By default, if you enter a sed command, and don't pipe/redirect anything to it, it will wait for you to type something on the command line.

Code:

rob@rob-debian:~$ sed "s|$to_row|$from_row|"
Cheese
Cheese
Pickles
Pickles
Hello, how are you?
Hello, how are you?
Hi, how are you?
/wu9m<h-8$, how are you?

The sort of thing you need is:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
to_process="Hi, how are you?"
from_row='/wu9m<h-8$'
to_row='Hi'
processed=$(echo $to_process | sed "s|$to_row|$from_row|")
echo $processed 
exit 0
rob@rob-debian:~$ ./hello.sh
/wu9m<h-8$, how are you?