CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxbashsed
AKS
AKS

Reputation: 17336

sed -n creating a new file with 'n' in the file extension

Linux: RHEL6.10 Santiago

When I used sed with -n (which is used for silent mode), it works for the original file, but why it ended up creating a new file with no effect on the file and with the same name + suffixed a character n in the file's extension, see below - File: /tmp/11.txtn.

   -n, --quiet, --silent
          suppress automatic printing of pattern space

Here

[myuser@rhel6linuxserverl15 a_folder]$ cat /tmp/11.txt 
arun nuka
arun snooka
arun chinga
arun patinga

[myuser@rhel6linuxserverl15 a_folder]$ sed -i "/arun snooka/ d" /tmp/11.txt 
[myuser@rhel6linuxserverl15 a_folder]$ cat /tmp/11.txt 
arun nuka
arun chinga
arun patinga

[myuser@rhel6linuxserverl15 a_folder]$ sed -in "/arun chinga/ d" /tmp/11.txt 
[myuser@rhel6linuxserverl15 a_folder]$ 
[myuser@rhel6linuxserverl15 a_folder]$ cat /tmp/11.txt
arun nuka
arun patinga

[myuser@rhel6linuxserverl15 a_folder]$ ls -l /tmp/11*
-rw-r--r-- 1 myuser grpup1 24 Apr 25 16:19 /tmp/11.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 myuser grpup1 36 Apr 25 16:19 /tmp/11.txtn
[myuser@rhel6linuxserverl15 a_folder]$ cat /tmp/11.txtn 
arun nuka
arun chinga
arun patinga

[myuser@rhel6linuxserverl15 a_folder]$

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1290

Answers (2)

William Pursell
William Pursell

Reputation: 212484

When you invoke sed -in, you are not passing the argument -n. Instead, you are passing n as the suffix of the backup file to -i.

-i extension
         Edit files in-place, saving backups with the specified extension.  If a zero-length extension is given, no backup will be saved.  It is not recommended to give a zero-length extension when in-place editing files, as you risk corruption or
         partial content in situations where disk space is exhausted, etc.

Upvotes: 3

choroba
choroba

Reputation: 242038

-i takes an optional parameter that denotes the extension of a backup file. Use -n -i or specify an extension (-n -i~ is common).

-i[SUFFIX], --in-place[=SUFFIX]

edit files in place (makes backup if SUFFIX supplied)

Upvotes: 4

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