UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Is there an easier way to do the following:

echo "|||||||" | sed 's/||/|0|/g; s/||/|0|/g'
which would give the following
|0|0|0|0|0|0|

If it is not run twice it will not pick up the second occurance of the || and leave it empty as in
echo "|||||||" | sed 's/||/|0|/g'
which would give you
|0||0||0||

Very simple but the first solution is what I used. Any ideas or comments?

Thanks

Am I allowed to cheat? This will do precisely what you asked:
echo "|||||||" | sed 's/||/|0|0/g'

on the same lines...

echo "|||||||" | sed "s/|||/|0|0|0/g"

in a general case if you have n pipes in input,

you can use p pipes in the context address parts
and p "|0" pairs in the substitution string part...

p is such that n % p = 1

now excuse me for this trivia!!

Cheers!
Vishnu.

Perderabo & Vishnu

Thanks for the replies but my initial problem was that the number of bars "|" did vary in the data file so the pattern was not always the same.

Purely a question which was aked by another colluege after I gave him my solution and he said he is sure it could be done in a shorter command. However still awaiting his solution

Cheers