Help with sed syntax and single quotes
 

Hey all,

I've searched a ton on this, but couldn't find what I was hoping to find. I want to use sed to replace some text in a config file. I've used it successfully before in situations without single quotes, but this time single quotes are part of the string that I want to insert into the file.

Here's the command:

What I want is to replace the text "library_dirs = [" in setup.py with "library_dirs = ['$PATH_TO_FTDI', " where the single quotes, comma, and space need to exist and $PATH_TO_FTDI will be replaced with what is stored in that environment variable.

I know the solution requires escaping, and I get that when it comes to, say, directory names with spaces in them (e.g. My\ Whacky\ Folder), but I'm not sure how to do it here.

Thanks,
Gabe

Hi,

instead of escaping the single quotes in your replacement text you can switch to using double quotes in the sed command. You will however need to escape the $ and [. Eg
HTH,

Evo2.

That worked almost perfectly, thanks!

The only thing it didn't do is replace $PATH_TO_FTDI with what is actually in that environment variable. PATH_TO_FTDI=/usr/local/include/libftdi1/, and it's that actual path that I want to show up in the setup.py file.

Unless python will see that environment variable as-is, which I guess would be ok too.

Hi,
Ohh, I had assumed that was the desired effect. In this case don't escape the $. Ie do:
No, to get to environment variables in python you need to use the getenv method of the os module. Eg
Cheers,

Evo2.

Awesome, thanks!

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