sed limitation of 255 characters

sirababu · #1 (**permalink**) 03-16-2009

Gurus,

sed -e "s/\(.\{1,255\}\)\(.\{1,2\}\)\(.*\)/\1AB\3/" FILE ---this works

sed -e "s/\(.\{1,468\}\)\(.\{1,2\}\)\(.*\)/\1AB\3/" FILE ---this does not

It works only till 1,255 ( any number below 255 works)

Any one know how to increase this limit.

Thanks
Sirababu

Yogesh Sawant · #2 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009

one alternative is to use perl - it has no limitations for line size

something like:

Code:

perl -pi -e 's/this/that/' /foo/bar

wempy · #3 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009

both lines work fine here

Code:

$ sed --version
GNU sed version 4.1.5
Copyright (C) 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

If you can't use gnu sed then you could overcome the limit by

Code:

sed -e "s/\(.\{1,255\}\)\(.\{1,213\}\)\(.\{1,2\}\)\(.*\)/\1\2AB\4/" FILE

(added/altered code marked in red)

Yogesh Sawant · #4 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009

GNU sed implies no limit on maximum line length

sirababu · #5 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by wempy

both lines work fine here

Code:

$ sed --version
GNU sed version 4.1.5
Copyright (C) 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

If you can't use gnu sed then you could overcome the limit by

Code:

sed -e "s/\(.\{1,255\}\)\(.\{1,213\}\)\(.\{1,2\}\)\(.*\)/\1\2AB\4/" FILE

(added/altered code marked in red)

Thanks a lot

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