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Full Discussion: How to edit file sections that cross multiple lines?
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting How to edit file sections that cross multiple lines? Post 302386603 by Narnie on Tuesday 12th of January 2010 11:10:25 PM
Old 01-13-2010
MySQL Needing help with searching and replace in a file (sed?)
Hello,

I'm wondering where I could go to learn how to edit file sections that cross multiple lines. I'm wanting to write scripts that will add Gnome menu entries for all users on a system for scripts I write, etc. I can search an replace simple examples with sed, but this seems more complex.

I am on a 'doz system in a hotel right now so I can't post the actual file, but the Gnome menu entry has a structure similar to this:

Code:
<Menu>
    <Name>Accessibility</Name>
    <Directory>Accessibility.directory</Directory>
    <Include>
      <And>
        <Category>Accessibility</Category>
        <Not><Category>Settings</Category></Not>
      </And>
    </Include>
    <Exclude>
      <Filename>dasher.desktop</Filename>
    </Exclude>
  </Menu>

Say I need to change the markups for the dasher.desktop file from <Exclude> to <Include> and </Exclude> to </Include>?

What If I wanted to add a new <Include></Include> section for a new .desktop file?

Compounding this is that there is variable whitespace indentation depending on how deep into the structure one needs to go and it would be nice to keep the formatting for readability and a nicer, more polished look.

Basically, what is the technique for finding something, and then modifying something on lines above and/or below it OR finding a section, and then adding something on a line below that section without modifying that line in the process.

I don't mind learning myself, but I need pointed in the right direction. I'm not sure where to start. This seems like a bit of a big job for sed. If someone would want to code an example, I'm up for that too as I can learn from that (hey, learning is fun, right?)

With thanks,
Narnie
Last edited by Narnie; 01-13-2010 at 01:57 AM..
 

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LEARN ABOUT DEBIAN

exo-desktop-item-edit

EXO-DESKTOP-ITEM-EDIT(1)					   User Commands					  EXO-DESKTOP-ITEM-EDIT(1)

NAME

       exo-desktop-item-edit - Create icons on the desktop

DESCRIPTION

   Usage:
	      exo-desktop-item-edit [OPTION...] [FILE|FOLDER]

   Help Options:
       -?, --help
	      Show help options

       --help-all
	      Show all help options

       --help-gtk
	      Show GTK+ Options

   Application Options:
       -c, --create-new
	      Create a new desktop file in the given directory

       -t, --type
	      Type of desktop file to create (Application or Link)

       --name Preset name when creating a desktop file

       --comment
	      Preset comment when creating a desktop file

       --command
	      Preset command when creating a launcher

       --url  Preset URL when creating a link

       --icon Preset icon when creating a desktop file

       -v, --version
	      Print version information and exit

       --display=DISPLAY
	      X display to use

AUTHOR

       Written by Benedikt Meurer <benny@xfce.org>.

       exo-desktop-item-edit  comes  with  ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, You may redistribute copies of exo-desktop-item-edit under the terms of the GNU
       Lesser General Public License which can be found in the exo source package.

       Please report bugs to <http://bugzilla.xfce.org/>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2005-2006
	       os-cillation e.K. All rights reserved.

SEE ALSO

       The full documentation for exo-desktop-item-edit is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the info  and  exo-desktop-item-edit  programs  are
       properly installed at your site, the command

	      info exo-desktop-item-edit

       should give you access to the complete manual.

exo-desktop-item-edit 0.3.1.10rc1				  September 2006					  EXO-DESKTOP-ITEM-EDIT(1)
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