Hi,

I have a text file where there is a word i wont to change to another word

eksample i wont to change the word "hello" to "hi"

i think i can remember that there is a command line ...something i can use?????

Welcome to LQ ...

That was a very simple question you asked ,but has got a hell lot of answers.

You can give a bit more detail as to what text editor you are using and whether you want to open a file and replace it or replace it as such.

A few good commands to replace a pattern in a file without even opening is

Assume your file is file1

sed "s/hello/hi/" file1 > file2

[or] if you dont want to redirect to a file and want to replace in the same file

perl -pi -e "s/hello/hi/" file1


...

It really depends on the text editor that you are using. They vary so much from one to another.

You will have to give more details about the editor itself and if possible the version of it (which can make a difference somtimes).

Cheers

Hi

Iam using Kate as my text editor. My text is actual a php file where i wont to change a ipaddress to a variable

eksample

$arr = snmpwalk("10.10.1.164", "secret", "1.3.6.1.4.1.1824.1.3.1.1");

actual a php file where i wont to change a ip address to a variable

example

$arr = snmpwalk("10.10.1.164", "secret", "1.3.6.1.4.1.1824.1.3.1.1");


i have a lot of different snmpwalks to the difference snmp devises and i wont to change them easy with a variable.

I can not get this to work

sed "s/hello/hi/" file1 > file2

perl -pi -e "s/hello/hi/" file1

So what is the error for each of the commands?.

the sed command:
sed: -e expression nr. 1, sign 17: unterminated `s' command

the Perl command
Substitution replacement not terminated at -e line 1.

The ending '/' would have been omitted.That could be one reason why sed and perl failed.

Both the commands have the following syntax


sed 's/string/replacement/' filename

perl -pi -e "s/string/replacement/" filename

Where
string - is the string which you want to replace
replacement - is the string which will be replaced in place of string


Note:
If you have any '/' in your search string , escape it with a '\' character.


One easy example you can try is this

sed 's/bash/BASH/' /etc/passwd

This will convert all the bash instances in /etc/passwd into BASH.

Dont try the same with perl command as it will actually overwrite the file.

Zulfi.A

I dont know if it is importent but my os is Kubuntu, and i run it in a vmware.

Not an issue.

Sed and perl have the same syntax on any platform.

yes, that work fine.

mic@mic-desktop:~$ sed 's/bash/BASH/' /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/BASH
daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/bin/sh
bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/bin/sh
sys:x:3:3:sys:/dev:/bin/sh
sync:x:4:65534:sync:/bin:/bin/sync
games:x:5:60:games:/usr/games:/bin/sh
man:x:6:12:man:/var/cache/man:/bin/sh
lp:x:7:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/bin/sh
mail:x:8:8:mail:/var/mail:/bin/sh
news:x:9:9:news:/var/spool/news:/bin/sh
uucp:x:10:10:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/bin/sh
proxy:x:13:13roxy:/bin:/bin/sh
www-data:x:33:33:www-data:/var/www:/bin/sh
backup:x:34:34:backup:/var/backups:/bin/sh
list:x:38:38:Mailing List Manager:/var/list:/bin/sh
irc:x:39:39:ircd:/var/run/ircd:/bin/sh
gnats:x:41:41:Gnats Bug-Reporting System (admin):/var/lib/gnats:/bin/sh
nobody:x:65534:65534:nobody:/nonexistent:/bin/sh
dhcp:x:101:101::/nonexistent:/bin/false
syslog:x:102:102::/home/syslog:/bin/false
klog:x:103:103::/home/klog:/bin/false
cupsys:x:100:106::/home/cupsys:/bin/false
messagebus:x:104:107::/var/run/dbus:/bin/false
haldaemon:x:108:108:Hardware abstraction layer,,,:/var/run/hal:/bin/false
hplip:x:105:7:HPLIP system user,,,:/var/run/hplip:/bin/false
mic:x:1000:0:Michael C:/home/mic:/bin/BASH
mysql:x:106:113:MySQL Server,,,:/var/lib/mysql:/bin/false
snmp:x:107:65534::/var/lib/snmp:/bin/false
ftp:x:109:65534::/home/ftp:/bin/false

Yeah the same thing can be applied on your file also.
Ex: You want to change the MIB entries
10.1.2.3
10.5.6.5
to a variablename MYDEVICE

Just use
sed 's/10.[0-9].[0-9].[0-9]/MYDEVICE/' filename

Thats one way to do it.

i have maked a simple file with this:
FILENAME test8

hi hi hi hi hi
new new new new new
hello hello hello hello hello

i then run the sed command with g flag

mic@mic-desktop:~$ sed 's/hi/hello/g' /home/mic/test8
hello hello hello hello hello
new new new new new
hello hello hello hello hellomic@mic-desktop:~$

and this work to
mic@mic-desktop:~$ sed 's/10.10.1.164/MyVar/g' /home/mic/database.php > database8

thank you all for youre help