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Change the i-th character of the j-th line

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# 1  
Old 09-23-2015
Change the i-th character of the j-th line
Hi,
I have a file like


Code:
#-----------------------------------
3                ! number of parameters of the polynome
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
1.03916e-03   1  ! fix=0) free=1 
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
3                ! number of parameters
2.16595e-05   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1

Is there a way to change the i-th character of the j-th line to a value that I specifiy?

In the case above I would like to change from 1 to 0 the character in the 15th column; but it can be anywhere in principle

Any help is appreciated,
Sarah
# 2  
Old 09-23-2015
Code:
$  sed "/.\{14\}1/s/./0/15" file
#-----------------------------------
3                ! number of parameters of the polynome
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1
1.03916e-03   0  ! fix=0) free=1
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1
3                ! number of parameters
2.16595e-05   0  ! fix=0) free=1
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1

This User Gave Thanks to anbu23 For This Post:
f_o_555
# 3  
Old 09-23-2015
is there a way to specify the row number? I would like to change only one row+column
# 4  
Old 09-23-2015
Try an adaption of anbu's code:
Code:
sed "4s/^\(.\{14\}\)1/\10/" file

Please note that anbu's regex patterns should be anchored to target exactly the one location intended.
Last edited by RudiC; 09-23-2015 at 09:19 AM.. Reason: typo
# 5  
Old 09-23-2015
Let's say that I want to change the character in row 3, column 15 to X

Input
Code:
#-----------------------------------
3                ! number of parameters of the polynome
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
1.03916e-03   1  ! fix=0) free=1 
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
3                ! number of parameters
2.16595e-05   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1

output
Code:
#-----------------------------------
3                ! number of parameters of the polynome
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
1.03916e-03   X  ! fix=0) free=1 
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
3                ! number of parameters
2.16595e-05   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1 
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1

# 6  
Old 09-23-2015
Hi, in bash:
Code:
$ ROW=3 && COL=15 && sed -e "$((ROW+1))s/./X/${COL}" file
#-----------------------------------
3                ! number of parameters of the polynome
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1
1.03916e-03   X  ! fix=0) free=1
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1
3                ! number of parameters
2.16595e-05   0  ! fix=0) free=1
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1
0.00000e+00   0  ! fix=0) free=1

Regards
This User Gave Thanks to disedorgue For This Post:
f_o_555
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