Hi guys
sorry for the confusion. Ill explain.

@MadeInGermany:
the solution you provided with pattern/newval works perfectly fine.
I can modify "pattern" to be any portion of the string in each line, and the last digit will be replaced.

THe only change right now is I want to get the "pattern" and "newval" parameters required to do the sed by parsing a third variable, instead of defining them explicitly. The main problem seems to be with evaluating the vars.

Right now if I specify everything on the command line it works:

Code:

pattern='info:200\/text\/name1:1.2.300'

-->(im escaping the / and im definning it in single quotes )

Code:

newval=8

Code:

echo " $pattern "

-> info:200\/text\/name1:1.2.300

Code:

echo " $newval "

--> 8


and call sed:

Code:

sed '/'"$pattern"\.'/ s/\(.*\.\)[0-9]\{1,\}/\1'"$newval"'/' file

input (from file):

Code:

person1_desc: 'info:200/text/name1:1.2.300.X'

output:

Code:

person1_desc: 'info:200/text/name1:1.2.300.8'

This is great. So now I will try to get the values from a new variable called $input_line

Code:

input_line=info:200/text/name1:1.2.300.8

parse it:

Code:

pattern_2=$( echo $input_line | sed 's/\.[^.]*$//' )

--> info:200/text/name1:1.2.300

Code:

newval_2=$( echo  $input_line | sed 's/.*\.//' )

--> 8

Code:

echo " $pattern_2 "

--> info:200/text/name1:1.2.300

Code:

echo "$newval_2 "

--> 8

so now if I call the exact same sed command, it doesnt work:

Code:

sed '/'"$pattern"\.'/ s/\(.*\.\)[0-9]\{1,\}/\1'"$newval"'/' file

I get:

Code:

sed: -e expression #1, char 33: extra characters after command

so thats why I want to
1. escape the slash in $pattern_2
2. not sure if I need to put $pattern_2 in single quotes?