UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

It is a product called Actimize, we really cant change those processes to remove the blank lines

Code:

awk '/decalre|begin/, /;/ {  
  sub(/\//, "\\/")
  }1' infile

Or maybe:

Code:

awk '/decalre|begin|exception/, /;/ {  
  sub(/\//, "\\/")
  }1' infile

Indeed you did. I only went into detail about it in case scottn or anyone else was interested in the most likely reason why it did not work with his sed.

That said, unless GNU sed behavior changed with a 4.2+ release, your suggestion is incorrect. Testing with GNU sed 4.1.5 (admittedly, a 5 year old version), the following does not replace the first / in the file (or any other) with \/:

\\/ works as expected, though.

Regards,
Alister

You're right, it doesn't return \/ even with 4.2.1 (evidently I missed one backslash).
Thanks to Scott and to you for pointing out the error!

This is working but it has 2 limitations.

1. it displays the output and it doesn't replace the contents of the file.

2.it replaces all the \ and not the first occurance alone in a line.

Fixed:

Code:

awk > _new_ '/decalre|begin|exception/, /;/ {  
  sub(/^\//, "\\/")
  }1' infile &&
  mv -- _new_ infile