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Old 06-23-2008, 02:47 PM   #1
jeriryan
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Registered: Apr 2003
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Replacing a line in a text file


Is there a way to change one line in a text file from the command line? For example, if inside a config file there is a line that says startup=manual and I want it to say startup=automatic, how can I accomplish this from the command line? Also, there will definitely be multiple instances of the words "startup", "manual", and "automatic" in the file, just not in that particular order, and I can only modify that one line.
 
Old 06-23-2008, 03:20 PM   #2
zephyrcat
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Well, you could just open the file and search for the line you want to change.

If you want to do that, you can use the terminal to open the file in gedit or vim or whatever.
Code:
gedit filename
Or look here for information about Vim:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...IM_Vi_Improved

Hope that helps!
 
Old 06-23-2008, 03:27 PM   #3
jeriryan
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I can't open the file to edit though (I don't mean it isn't possible, but the requirement is command line only.) Is that possible?
 
Old 06-23-2008, 03:28 PM   #4
LiamFromLeeds
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If you don't want to open the file then sed is your friend.

Code:
sed -e 's/startup=manual/startup=automatic/' fileName > fileName.tmp
You can then check your changes in fileName.tmp if they are OK then overwrite the new file back on top of the old one..

Code:
mv fileName.tmp fileName
 
Old 06-23-2008, 03:34 PM   #5
zephyrcat
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Looks like LiamFromLeeds has a good solution. I just wanted to note that if the just can't use a GUI program to edit the file, you could still use a program like vim, which runs in a CLI.
 
Old 06-23-2008, 03:56 PM   #6
jeriryan
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Thanks guys, it worked perfectly.
 
  


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