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Full Discussion: Find/replace alpha characters in string
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Find/replace alpha characters in string Post 302932627 by Don Cragun on Friday 23rd of January 2015 12:57:31 AM
Old 01-23-2015
The sed command Klashxx gave you will work on some systems, but the -r option is not portable (and you haven't said what OS you're using).

For systems with a POSIX-conforming sed utility, the following sed script seems to do what you want:
Code:
strings='563MS333_101_afp_400-100_screening leading and trailing _
563MS333_104-525_rjk_525_screening leading and trailing _
563MS333_110_dlj_500-100_w24 leading and trailing _
563MS333_888-100_mmm_424_screening leading and trailing _
563MS333_101afp_400-100_screening trailing _
563MS333_104-525rjk_525_screening trailing _
563MS333_110dlj_500-100_w24 trailing _
563MS333_888-100mmm424_screening trailing _
563MS333_101afp400-100_screening no _
563MS333_104-525rjk525_screening no _
563MS333_110dlj500-100_w24 no _
563MS333_888-100mmm424_screening no _
563MS333_101_afp400-100_screening leading _
563MS333_104-525_rjk525_screening leading _
563MS333_110_dlj500-100_w24 leading _
563MS333_888-100_mmm424_screening leading _
563MS333_101_fp_400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
563MS333_101fp_400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
563MS333_101_fp400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
563MS333_101fp400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
563MS333_101_aafp_400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
563MS333_101aafp_400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
563MS333_101_aafp400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
563MS333_101aaafp400-100_screening No Change too many alphas'
printf '%s\n' "$strings" | while read line
do	printf 'Input line: %s\n' "$line"
	nline="$(printf '%s\n' "$line" |
		sed 's/^\(563MS333[-_[:digit:]]*[[:digit:]]\{3\}_\{0,1\}\)[[:alpha:]]\{3\}\(_\{0,1\}[[:digit:]]\{3\}\)/\1xxx\2/')"
	printf '  New line: %s\n' "$nline"
done

and produces the output:
Code:
Input line: 563MS333_101_afp_400-100_screening leading and trailing _
  New line: 563MS333_101_xxx_400-100_screening leading and trailing _
Input line: 563MS333_104-525_rjk_525_screening leading and trailing _
  New line: 563MS333_104-525_xxx_525_screening leading and trailing _
Input line: 563MS333_110_dlj_500-100_w24 leading and trailing _
  New line: 563MS333_110_xxx_500-100_w24 leading and trailing _
Input line: 563MS333_888-100_mmm_424_screening leading and trailing _
  New line: 563MS333_888-100_xxx_424_screening leading and trailing _
Input line: 563MS333_101afp_400-100_screening trailing _
  New line: 563MS333_101xxx_400-100_screening trailing _
Input line: 563MS333_104-525rjk_525_screening trailing _
  New line: 563MS333_104-525xxx_525_screening trailing _
Input line: 563MS333_110dlj_500-100_w24 trailing _
  New line: 563MS333_110xxx_500-100_w24 trailing _
Input line: 563MS333_888-100mmm424_screening trailing _
  New line: 563MS333_888-100xxx424_screening trailing _
Input line: 563MS333_101afp400-100_screening no _
  New line: 563MS333_101xxx400-100_screening no _
Input line: 563MS333_104-525rjk525_screening no _
  New line: 563MS333_104-525xxx525_screening no _
Input line: 563MS333_110dlj500-100_w24 no _
  New line: 563MS333_110xxx500-100_w24 no _
Input line: 563MS333_888-100mmm424_screening no _
  New line: 563MS333_888-100xxx424_screening no _
Input line: 563MS333_101_afp400-100_screening leading _
  New line: 563MS333_101_xxx400-100_screening leading _
Input line: 563MS333_104-525_rjk525_screening leading _
  New line: 563MS333_104-525_xxx525_screening leading _
Input line: 563MS333_110_dlj500-100_w24 leading _
  New line: 563MS333_110_xxx500-100_w24 leading _
Input line: 563MS333_888-100_mmm424_screening leading _
  New line: 563MS333_888-100_xxx424_screening leading _
Input line: 563MS333_101_fp_400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
  New line: 563MS333_101_fp_400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
Input line: 563MS333_101fp_400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
  New line: 563MS333_101fp_400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
Input line: 563MS333_101_fp400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
  New line: 563MS333_101_fp400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
Input line: 563MS333_101fp400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
  New line: 563MS333_101fp400-100_screening No Change too few alphas
Input line: 563MS333_101_aafp_400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
  New line: 563MS333_101_aafp_400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
Input line: 563MS333_101aafp_400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
  New line: 563MS333_101aafp_400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
Input line: 563MS333_101_aafp400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
  New line: 563MS333_101_aafp400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
Input line: 563MS333_101aaafp400-100_screening No Change too many alphas
  New line: 563MS333_101aaafp400-100_screening No Change too many alphas

 

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