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Replacing text between two square brackets

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# 1  
Old 12-02-2010
Replacing text between two square brackets
hi guys,
i'm writing a script that looks for a unquie id in a file and replaces a string between two square brackets on the same line as the unquie id:

Code:
.......
.......
0001  zz 43242 [replace this text] name
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
.......
.......

how can i find line with id 0001 and then replace only the text between the brackets?


Thanks in advance,
Zaff
# 2  
Old 12-02-2010
Code:
# echo "0001  zz 43242 [replace this text] name" | sed '/^0001/s/\[.*\]/anything/'
0001  zz 43242 anything name

Code:
# cat input
0001  zz 43242 [replace this text] name
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0001  zz 43242 [replace this text] name
0001  zz 43242 [replace this text] name
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0001  zz 43242 [replace this text] name
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country

# sed '/^0001/s/\[.*\]/anything/' input
0001  zz 43242 anything name
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0001  zz 43242 anything name
0001  zz 43242 anything name
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0001  zz 43242 anything name
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country
0002  sd 65466 [UK] country

#

This User Gave Thanks to ctsgnb For This Post:
zaff
# 3  
Old 12-02-2010
...for further clarity:
what i'm trying to do is replace the string between the brackets with its MD5 value. I'm basically anonymising the data. I can only search the file using the id, as i have no idea what the string-to-be-replaced is.

Regards,
Zaff

---------- Post updated at 04:58 PM ---------- Previous update was at 04:55 PM ----------

Thanks for the quick response!
.......and how about if i wanted to keep the square brackets?

Thanks,
Zaff

---------- Post updated at 05:01 PM ---------- Previous update was at 04:58 PM ----------

...sorry, one more thing:
how can i assign the value between the brackets to a variable?

Thanks,
Zaff
# 4  
Old 12-02-2010
Please give more clue :
what is your input ?
what is your expected output ?
What do you want to do with the MD5 (log it into a file ? sometyhing else ?)
# 5  
Old 12-02-2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by zaff
...for further clarity:
what i'm trying to do is replace the string between the brackets with its MD5 value. I'm basically anonymising the data. I can only search the file using the id, as i have no idea what the string-to-be-replaced is.

.......and how about if i wanted to keep the square brackets?
Code:
MD5="New Text" 

sed '/0001/ s/\[.*]/['"$MD5]"'/' file

Quote:
Originally Posted by zaff
how can i assign the value between the brackets to a variable?
Code:
var=$(sed -n '/0001/ s/.*\[\(.*\)].*/\1/p' file)

# 6  
Old 12-02-2010
basically all i need is the following:

1. command similar to one u provided, but assigning the string in the brackets to a variable. i will then use this variable to generate an md5 (this i can do).

2. replace the content of the brackets with the md5. This command u have already kindly provided:

Code:
echo "0001  zz 43242 [replace this text] name" |sed '/^0001/s/\[.*\]/my_md5/'

........only thing is, i need the brackets to remain as they are and not be removed along with the original string.

Regards,
Zaff
# 7  
Old 12-03-2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by zaff
1. command similar to one u provided, but assigning the string in the brackets to a variable. i will then use this variable to generate an md5 (this i can do).
Code:
var=$(sed -n '/0001/ s/.*\[\(.*\)].*/\1/p' file)

Quote:
Originally Posted by zaff
2. replace the content of the brackets with the md5. This command u have already kindly provided
Code:
MD5="MD5 value"

sed '/0001/ s/\[.*]/['"$MD5]"'/' file

This User Gave Thanks to Franklin52 For This Post:
zaff
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