deleting a line but keeping the same file - UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

laiko · #1 (**permalink**) 05-13-2008

Hi,

I want to delete a line in a file that contains a string. I tried:
grep -v "mystring" Myfile > Myfile

But this makes the Myfile empty. I read that I need to do something like:
grep -v "mystring" Myfile > Myfile.new
rm Myfile
mv Myfile.new Myfile

Is there a way to avoid creating a temporary file??

Thanks in advance.

vguleria · #2 (**permalink**) 05-13-2008

Hi Laiko,

There is no such way.

Regards,
Vinod.

robotronic · #3 (**permalink**) 05-13-2008

If you have GNU sed, which supports "-i" option, you can use:

Code:

sed -i "/mystring/d" Myfile

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