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Full Discussion: perl : replace multiline text between two marker points
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting perl : replace multiline text between two marker points Post 302593112 by durden_tyler on Wednesday 25th of January 2012 04:58:20 PM
Old 01-25-2012
You could let Perl handle the intricacies of file manipulation. The command -

Code:
perl -i.bak -pe 'BEGIN {undef $/; $x="My multi-line\nstatic text\nover here"}
                  s/(---\+\+ Details\n).*?(\n---\+\+ More info)/$1$x$2/s
                 ' file1 file2 file3

creates backup files called "file1.bak", "file2.bak" and "file3.bak" for the original files "file1", "file2" and "file3" and then modifies them inline.

An example follows -

Code:
$
$ # check the original files
$
$ cat -n file1
   1  ---++ Title
   2  FILE1
   3
   4  ---++ Summary
   5  blah
   6
   7  ---++ Details
   8  Here is the multiline
   9  block
  10  of text I
  11  wish
  12  to
  13  replace that will
  14  be different
  15  in
  16  every file
  17
  18  ---++ More info
  19  blah
$
$ cat -n file2
   1  ---++ Title
   2  FILE2
   3
   4  ---++ Summary
   5  blah
   6
   7  ---++ Details
   8  Here is the multiline
   9  block
  10  of text I
  11  wish
  12  to
  13  replace that will
  14  be different
  15  in
  16  every file
  17
  18  ---++ More info
  19  blah
$
$ cat -n file3
   1  ---++ Title
   2  FILE3
   3
   4  ---++ Summary
   5  blah
   6
   7  ---++ Details
   8  Here is the multiline
   9  block
  10  of text I
  11  wish
  12  to
  13  replace that will
  14  be different
  15  in
  16  every file
  17
  18  ---++ More info
  19  blah
$
$ # run the Perl one-liner
$
$ perl -i.bak -pe 'BEGIN {undef $/; $x="My multi-line\nstatic text\nover here"}
                 s/(---\+\+ Details\n).*?(\n---\+\+ More info)/$1$x$2/s
                ' file1 file2 file3
$
$ # now check the modified files
$
$ cat -n file1
   1  ---++ Title
   2  FILE1
   3
   4  ---++ Summary
   5  blah
   6
   7  ---++ Details
   8  My multi-line
   9  static text
  10  over here
  11  ---++ More info
  12  blah
$
$ cat -n file2
   1  ---++ Title
   2  FILE2
   3
   4  ---++ Summary
   5  blah
   6
   7  ---++ Details
   8  My multi-line
   9  static text
  10  over here
  11  ---++ More info
  12  blah
$
$ cat -n file3
   1  ---++ Title
   2  FILE3
   3
   4  ---++ Summary
   5  blah
   6
   7  ---++ Details
   8  My multi-line
   9  static text
  10  over here
  11  ---++ More info
  12  blah
$
$ # and see if the original files were backed up
$
$ cat -n file1.bak
   1  ---++ Title
   2  FILE1
   3
   4  ---++ Summary
   5  blah
   6
   7  ---++ Details
   8  Here is the multiline
   9  block
  10  of text I
  11  wish
  12  to
  13  replace that will
  14  be different
  15  in
  16  every file
  17
  18  ---++ More info
  19  blah
$
$ cat -n file2.bak
   1  ---++ Title
   2  FILE2
   3
   4  ---++ Summary
   5  blah
   6
   7  ---++ Details
   8  Here is the multiline
   9  block
  10  of text I
  11  wish
  12  to
  13  replace that will
  14  be different
  15  in
  16  every file
  17
  18  ---++ More info
  19  blah
$
$ cat -n file3.bak
   1  ---++ Title
   2  FILE3
   3
   4  ---++ Summary
   5  blah
   6
   7  ---++ Details
   8  Here is the multiline
   9  block
  10  of text I
  11  wish
  12  to
  13  replace that will
  14  be different
  15  in
  16  every file
  17
  18  ---++ More info
  19  blah
$
$

You could use regular expressions while specifying the original files, and Perl takes care of resolving them, backing them up and editing them individually, e.g. in my case above, I could use -

Code:
perl -i.bak -pe 'BEGIN {undef $/; $x="My multi-line\nstatic text\nover here"}
               s/(---\+\+ Details\n).*?(\n---\+\+ More info)/$1$x$2/s
              ' file*

or

Code:
perl -i.bak -pe 'BEGIN {undef $/; $x="My multi-line\nstatic text\nover here"}
               s/(---\+\+ Details\n).*?(\n---\+\+ More info)/$1$x$2/s
              ' file?

tyler_durden
 

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