sed block search with variables
 

Hi Folks,

1) extracting a block of text from file1 to file2 works fine this hardcoded way:

sed -n '/DW/,/;/p' file1.tmp > file2.tmp

2) Now I need it more flexible using a shell variable:

p=DW

sed -n '/$p/,/;/p' file1.tmp > file2.tmp

But the file2.tmp stays empty. What is wrong ? Thank you all.

The single quotes prevent shell substitution and the string $p is passed literally to sed and interpreted with its own rules. To let the shell make the substitution and expand the value of the variable, use double quotes.

double quotes
 

Colucix,

thanks for your reply. I tried several double quotes but no joy. How should that look like in my case ?

cheers from Germany :-)

This works on my system:
using GNU sed version 4.1.5.

Thank you ! That is the solution. Have a great day. :-)