Search and replace text in many files


 
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# 1  
Old 03-07-2011
Search and replace text in many files

Hello,
I am very new to Linux and am trying to find a way for following problem.
I have a number of files in a folder as Export000.dat, Export001.dat ..and so on.
Each file has a string field 'Absolute velocity'. I want it to be replaced by 'Pixel shift' in all the files. I tried something like $ sed 's/Absolute velocity$/Pixel shift/g' Export000.datBut it does not seem to work.
Please help !! Smilie

CJ
# 2  
Old 03-07-2011
Can you remove the dollar $ present in the pattern match and try. $ matches end of line. Something like below..
Code:
sed 's/Absolute velocity/Pixel shift/g' Export000.dat

# 3  
Old 03-07-2011
Thanks !.it works..but how do I save the changed file under the same file name?..
# 4  
Old 03-07-2011
If yours is a GNU SED then
Code:
sed -i 's/Absolute velocity/Pixel shift/g' Export000.dat

else you could send the output to a temp file and move the temp file to original file name.
This User Gave Thanks to michaelrozar17 For This Post:
# 5  
Old 03-07-2011
Alternatively, you could use a for loop and ed, instead of resorting to temp files or gnu extensions:

Code:
for f in Export???.dat; do
    printf %s\\n '1,$s/Absolute velocity/Pixel shift/g' w q | ed -s "$f"
done

Or, using a here document:
Code:
for f in Export???.dat; do
    ed -s "$f" <<'EOED'
        1,$s/Absolute velocity/Pixel shift/g
        w
        q
EOED
done

Regards,
Alister
These 2 Users Gave Thanks to alister For This Post:
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