delete a line from file using shell script

Abid Malik · 10-16-2010, 01:37 AM

Hello Everyone!

i have a file containing contents as

1 2 3
2 2 3
11 2 3

now i want to delete the line which first column content is 1. so, if i pass the parametere 1 to function delete_row. is should remove the first row as

2 2 3
11 2 3

and then write the contents in file.

Kenny_Strawn · 10-16-2010, 01:53 AM

If you have a patch file for the script that has a remove operator you could apply the patch to the file to delete the first line.

Nylex · 10-16-2010, 02:01 AM

If you want to delete the line from the file without copying it, then perhaps sed can help you:

sed -i '/^1 / d' file

seems to work on your test input. The space between the 1 and the / is crucial. Obviously, you'd need to pass a variable from your shell script in place of the 1 if that could change. Oh and note that the i option is for in place change - i.e., it will change the file it is operating on.

Please test things first! I'm not responsible for any data loss!