CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxbashsedreplace
user2877175
user2877175

Reputation: 13

sed returns "sed: command garbled"

I have this data in file.txt:

1234-abca-dgdsf-kds-2;abc dfsfds 2
123-abcdegfs-sdsd;dsfdsf dfd f
12523-cvjbsvndv-dvd-dvdv;dsfdsfpage

I want to replace the string after "-" and up to ";" with just ";", so that I get:

1234;abc dfsfds 2 
123;dsfdsf dfd f 
12523;dsfdsfpage

I tried with the command:

sed -e "s/-.*;/;" file.txt

But it gives me the following error:

sed command garbled

Why is this happening?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 16054

Answers (4)

fedorqui
fedorqui

Reputation: 289495

sed replacement commands are defined as (source):

's/REGEXP/REPLACEMENT/[FLAGS]'

(substitute) Match the regular-expression against the content of the pattern space. If found, replace matched string with REPLACEMENT.

However, you are saying:

sed "s/-.*;/;"

That is:

sed "s/REGEXP/REPLACEMENT"

And hence missing a "/" at the end of the expression. Just add it to have:

sed "s/-.*;/;/"
#            ^

Upvotes: 2

Jotne
Jotne

Reputation: 41446

-.* here the * greedy, so this would fail if there are more than one ;

echo "12523-cvjbsvndv-dvd-dvdv;dsfdsfpage;test" | sed -e "s/-.*;/;/"
12523;test

Change to -[^;]*

echo "12523-cvjbsvndv-dvd-dvdv;dsfdsfpage;test" | sed -e "s/-[^;]*;/;/"
12523;dsfdsfpage;test

Upvotes: 1

damienfrancois
damienfrancois

Reputation: 59070

You are missing a slash at the end of the sed command:

Should be "s/-.*;/;/"

Upvotes: 1

iamauser
iamauser

Reputation: 11469

This should work :

sed 's/-.*;/;/g' file > newFile

Upvotes: 0

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