Replacing text in files without using sed

Kenhelm · 05-28-2009, 12:53 AM

Your sed command does not work for me with GNU sed

Code:

line='Tue May 26 00:00:05 CDT 2009|217|authenticate|jds'
echo "$line" | sed 's/\|jds//g'
Tue May 26 00:00:05 CDT 2009|217|authenticate|
# '|' has been left on the end of the line

# Removing the g switch makes it worse.
echo "$line" | sed 's/\|jds//'
Tue May 26 00:00:05 CDT 2009|217|authenticate|jds

# This works
# Escaping is unnecessary to get a literal '|' in a basic regex
echo "$line" | sed 's/|jds//'
Tue May 26 00:00:05 CDT 2009|217|authenticate

theNbomr · 05-28-2009, 10:13 AM

You may want to look at the before & after versions of your sed output with a hex editor or od. Depending on where the logs were created, there may be end-of-line issues which are made invisible by some tools, but to which other tools are sensitive. Look especially for combinations of LF & CR.
--- rod.