Shell Programming and Scripting

Code:

sed '2,8s/^.//;17s/^.//;30s/^.//' file

naaah, I don't think OP can assume a static file layout - what matters is the 'scope' of the matching {}-s (I think).
Let's see if this is what the OP is looking for:

nawk -f asi.awk myFile

asi.awk:

Code:

/trap = {/ {blockOUT++}
/^# *{/ {blockOUT++}
blockOUT<=3 {sub("^# *", "   ")}
/^# *}/ {blockOUT--}
1

sed -i 's/^#//g' filename

once again - reread the OPs requirements:

oops, it would have helped if I had read your entire question

Thanks guys it worked.

Received a message asking me to explain my awk, so I am posting it here for the good of the community.

Code:

> cat play162.sh

awk '
  { if (((NR>=2)&&(NR<=8)) ||
  (NR==17) || (NR==30)) {
    print substr($0,2,99)
  } else {
    print 
  }

}' file162

awk ' ===> starts awk
{ if (((NR>=2)&&(NR<=8)) || ===> checks if line # (>=2 AND <=8) OR
(NR==17) || (NR==30)) { ===> if line # =17 OR line # =30
print substr($0,2,99) ===> if conditions met,
===> print the line beginning @ position 2
} else { ===> if conditions not met
print ===> print the line of text as-is
} ===> end the section within awk

}' file162 ===> end the awk commands, & provide the input file