multi file recursive folder search and replace

pellicle · 08-03-2010, 01:53 AM

Hi

I'm wanting to mod some PHP files across a hierarchy and thought I'd drive it with find + grep + xargs

I built up a command line which I was confident would do the job, but now can't save the results.

First I tried this:

Code:

find . -name \*.php | xargs grep serialize | cut -d: -f1| sort -u | xargs sed -i s/serialize/serialise/g

but that didn't work:

Code:

sed: illegal option -- i

so I thought I'd try using

Code:

xargs -I {}

so that I could repeat the file name

but I'm having trouble with this. For instance

Code:

find . -name \*.php | xargs grep serialize | cut -d: -f1| sort -u | xargs -I{} sed s/serialize/serialise/g {} > {}.old

just writes a single file with the name {}.old containing all the other files

while

Code:

find . -name \*.php | xargs grep serialize |cut -d: -f1|sort -u |  xargs -I{} echo {}  {}.alt

produces:

Code:

./includes/authenticate.php ./includes/authenticate.php.alt
./modules/team/modify.php ./modules/team/modify.php.alt
./modules/team/modifyInfo.php ./modules/team/modifyInfo.php.alt

so, I'm clearly missing something ... perhaps something obvious.

can anyone assist with this?

bigearsbilly · 08-03-2010, 02:21 AM

try:

xargs -n1

druuna · 08-03-2010, 02:27 AM

Hi,

Something like this:

find . -type f -name "*.php" -exec grep -l "serialize" {} \; | xargs sed 's/serialize/serialise/g' {}

If this is what you want/need add the -i.bak flag to sed (sed 's/serialize/serialise/g' -> sed -i.bak 's/serialize/serialise/g')

- First find all files that match *.php (-type f -name "*.php")
- List only files that contain serialize (exec grep -l "serialize" {} \;)
- Give the found files to sed (xargs sed 's/serialize/serialise/g' {})

Hope this helps.

Mr. Bit · 08-03-2010, 02:52 AM

Try this:

Code:

find . -name \*.php | xargs grep -l serialize | xargs -I{} sed -i.orig 's/serialize/serialise/g' {}

pellicle · 08-03-2010, 04:05 AM

Guys

thanks for the responses. As to sed -i, for some reason that is not supported on my system (I already tried it, it was the first option posted).

I'll try the limit on xargs -n1, but I would be curious to know why my previous attempt at writing a new file with > didn't work while the echo did ...

colucix · 08-03-2010, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pellicle

I'll try the limit on xargs -n1, but I would be curious to know why my previous attempt at writing a new file with > didn't work while the echo did ...

Because the > sign at the end of the command line redirects all the standard output from the previous pipe to a file. Instead you want the redirection be part of the sed command itself. Here is a workaround:

Code:

find . -name \*.php | xargs grep serialize | cut -d: -f1| sort -u | xargs -I{} echo bash -c "sed 's/serialize/serialise/g' {} > {}.alt"

You can see that redirection is now embedded in double quotes and it is protected from the parent shell. Please note that in the line above I put an echo to check the resulting commands: remove the echo statement when you want to actually create the new files.

grail · 08-03-2010, 07:38 AM

So I am curious why everyone is using grep when sed has a perfectly good search function of its own??
I must have missed something.

colucix · 08-03-2010, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grail

So I am curious why everyone is using grep when sed has a perfectly good search function of its own??

I agree. Furthermore, since the searched pattern is that one to be substituted you don't even need to specify the address in sed:

Code:

find . -name \*.php | xargs -I{} echo bash -c "sed 's/serialize/serialise/g' {} > {}.alt"

pellicle · 08-03-2010, 07:03 PM

Hi

Quote:

Originally Posted by grail

So I am curious why everyone is using grep when sed has a perfectly good search function of its own??
I must have missed something.

that is a good point ... my excuse is that as I developed the string (an iterative process) I started with grep to identify the files which needed changing. I didn't then apply the logic that I could remove this with sed

thanks for pointing that out :-)

pellicle · 08-03-2010, 07:06 PM

Hi

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

I agree. Furthermore, since the searched pattern is that one to be substituted you don't even need to specify the address in sed:

the only thing I have against this method is that it left me with bucket loads of files .alt which did not need to be edited ... and makes it seem that heaps more needed to be checked back in to SVN which was in fact not needed to be edited.

:-)

pellicle · 08-03-2010, 07:12 PM

Hi

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

Because the > sign at the end of the command line redirects all the standard output from the previous pipe to a file. Instead you want the redirection be part of the sed command itself.

thank you for the explanation and the example