Need help with sed


 
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# 1  
Old 12-12-2013
Need help with sed

So I have an input file that looks like this:

Quote:
filler information
filler information
filler information path/to/desired/$(variable #)/
filler information
path/to/$(variable #)/is/found/here
filler etc...
I want to use sed so that I can replace the string "$(variable)" but I can't seem to get it to work. I used the following one line to test, but no luck

Code:
sed s/\$\(variable \#\)/HERE/

I was thinking that I could use the escape character "\" before any special character and that would work. I was wrong. Any suggestions?
# 2  
Old 12-12-2013
Have you tried not escaping at all?
Code:
sed 's/$(variable #)/HERE/' input

This User Gave Thanks to bartus11 For This Post:
# 3  
Old 12-12-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by bartus11
Have you tried not escaping at all?
Code:
sed 's/$(variable #)/HERE/' input

*sigh* such a simple answer. Also the single quotes helped too. Thanks!
# 4  
Old 12-12-2013
The escaped \( \) has a special meaning in RE, and sed uses RE (and so do grep and perl4). Therefore, normal ( ) must not be escaped.
While in ERE (egrep, awk, perl) the ( ) has the special meaning, so there you must escape \( \)
BTW the $ has a special meaning, in both RE and ERE, so must be escaped. In this case is not at the end of the RE, so does not need to be escaped - still I usually escape it.

Last edited by MadeInGermany; 12-12-2013 at 07:14 PM..
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