Hi,

I am getting crazy after days on looking at it:
Bash in Ubuntu 12.04.1

I want to do this:
pattern="system /path1/file1 file1"
new_pattern=" data /path2/file2 file2"
file to edit: data.db

- I need to search in the file data.db for the nth occurrence of pattern
- pattern must match a complete line
- insert after pattern a new line with new_pattern

Sed in my installed Ubuntu does not seem to accept /c or /a commands, only -i !!

So, I tried this:

Code:

sed "s%system /path1/file1 file1%&\n    data /path2/file2 file2%" -i data.db

Which works except:
1- all occurrences of pattern will be replaced in data.db, not only the nth one
2- pattern will be matched even if it is not ending with a new line

So, tried to add \n at end of pattern to fix issue 2:

Code:

sed "s%system /path1/file1 file1\n%&\n    data /path2/file2 file2%" -i data.db

Result is pattern will not be replaced at all

and to fix issue 1, I tried the following with and without the -i:

Code:

sed "0,%system /path1/file1 file1%s%system /path1/file1 file1%&\n    data /path2/file2 file2%" [-i] data.db

No output error, but pattern is not matched

Any help please even if it is with another command
Difficulty seems to be caused by the / and spaces in my patterns!