How to replace line through sed , but without uncommented?


 
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# 1  
Old 12-04-2019
How to replace line through sed , but without uncommented?

I am looking to replace minimum password value in login.defs file. it does change , but it change the commented one also.
please

1. my script to be change 12 in the below line...
Code:
sed -i '/PASS_MIN_LEN/c\PASS_MIN_LEN 12' /etc/login.defs

action- It does change, but it change in 2 place.
Code:
PASS_MIN_LEN 12  Previous was - #       PASS_MIN_LEN    Minimum acceptable password length.
PASS_MIN_LEN 12

It was replaced #(commented line) also.

Please help the correct sed syntex, which could change the excat value only

Last edited by vbe; 12-04-2019 at 02:29 PM.. Reason: code tags please
# 2  
Old 12-04-2019
Try
Code:
sed '/^PASS_MIN_LEN/c\PASS_MIN_LEN 12' /etc/login.defs

# 3  
Old 12-04-2019
Quote:
Originally Posted by RudiC
Try
Code:
sed '/^PASS_MIN_LEN/c\PASS_MIN_LEN 12' /etc/login.defs

This will work only if the setting is left-aligned, which is usually the case, but not necessarily so. Furthermore you are replacing the whole line which would delete comments within the same line, like:

Code:
PASS_MIN_LEN     10    # this is a comment

You can make that more robust by:

Code:
sed 's/^\([[:space:]]*PASS_MIN_LEN[[:space:]]\)*[0-9][0-9]*/\112/' /etc/login.defs

By the way: you know that PASS_MIN_LEN is obsoleted as it is handled by PAM nowadays, yes?
# 4  
Old 12-05-2019
The second * in the previous post should be
Code:
sed 's/^\([[:space:]]*PASS_MIN_LEN[[:space:]]*\)[0-9][0-9]*/\112/' /etc/login.defs

Alternatively one can add a filter condition and use the s command:
Code:
sed -i '/^[^#]/ s/PASS_MIN_LEN.*/PASS_MIN_LEN 12/' /etc/login.defs

Or
Code:
sed -i '/^#/!s/PASS_MIN_LEN.*/PASS_MIN_LEN 12/' /etc/login.defs

Or branch to the end of the sed script if a comment is met; useful if several commands follow.
Code:
sed -i '
  /^#/b
  /PASS_MIN_LEN.*/c\PASS_MIN_LEN 12
' /etc/login.defs


Last edited by MadeInGermany; 12-05-2019 at 12:06 PM.. Reason: some corrections
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