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Problem with Sed when repeating characters

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# 1  
Old 03-26-2010
Problem with Sed when repeating characters
Hi all,

I'm learning sed (and regular expressions) - My first little program is to replace 3 numbers in a row with 'XXX'

This is what I am trying:
Code:
echo '511' | sed 's/[0-9]{3}/XXX/'

Here is the output:
Code:
defunct-macbook-pro:~ defunct$ echo '511' | sed 's/[0-9]{3}/XXX/'
511

For some reason, it doesnt replace. Maybe I am screwing up something, maybe its the fact I am using a mac.

I am running OSX Leopard 10.6.

Any thoughts?

Thank you very much!
# 2  
Old 03-26-2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by Defunct
Maybe I am screwing up something, maybe its the fact I am using a mac.
Sorry for being so blunt, but it is not the Mac which is to blame:

The regexp qualifier for "several of the expressions before" has to be escaped:

Code:
s/[0-9]\{3\}/XXX/

This searches for 3 consecutive digits (0-9) and replaces it with "XXX".

I hope this helps.

bakunin
# 3  
Old 03-26-2010
Code:
echo '511' | sed -r 's/[0-9]{3}/XXX/'

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