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replace character from string

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# 1  
Old 02-25-2011
replace character from string
I have a string
-----
i want to replace the 3rd '-' with a character
How can i do that

Basically im trying to do hangman

I have added the '-----' string to a file called hash
and i have the character in a variable called $input
also i have the character location(index) in this variable $1

How can i go on replacing the $1 character of the hash file with the $input character?
# 2  
Old 02-25-2011
omaral,

If sed is an option, you can try with:
Code:
$ echo "------" | sed 's/\(--\)\(-\)\(.*\)/\1X\3/'
--X---

# 3  
Old 02-26-2011
Code:
 $ echo "-----" | ruby -e 's=gets; s[2]="c"; print s' 
--c--

# 4  
Old 02-26-2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by omaral
I have a string
-----
i want to replace the 3rd '-' with a character
How can i do that

Basically im trying to do hangman

I have added the '-----' string to a file called hash
and i have the character in a variable called $input
also i have the character location(index) in this variable $1

How can i go on replacing the $1 character of the hash file with the $input character?
Code:
awk -v s=$input -v p=$1 '{$p=s}1' FS= OFS= hashfile

# 5  
Old 02-26-2011
Code:
echo "------" |sed 's/-/X/3'

# 6  
Old 02-28-2011
can you please help me
$input is the input character
$i is were the character should go
hash is the file the contains this '-----'

cat hash |sed 's/-/$input/$i'
this didnt work
# 7  
Old 02-28-2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by cgkmal
omaral,

If sed is an option, you can try with:
Code:
$ echo "------" | sed 's/\(--\)\(-\)\(.*\)/\1X\3/'
--X---

Shorter :
This will replace the 3rd char of the line by a X
Code:
echo '-------' | sed 's/\(..\).\(.*\)/\1X\2/'

Some sed will also support without the \2 notation
Code:
sed 's/^\(..\)./\1X/' infile

This will replace the 3rd '-' wherever it is on the line:
Code:
sed 's/-/X/3' infile

Code:
# echo "--------" | sed 's/-/X/3'
--X-----

---------- Post updated at 03:56 PM ---------- Previous update was at 03:42 PM ----------

to replace the n th character:

Code:
sed 's/^\(.\{n-1\}\)./\1X/' infile

example :

Code:
$ echo '--------' | sed 's/^\(.\{2\}\)./\1X/'
--X-----

Last edited by ctsgnb; 02-28-2011 at 10:51 AM..
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