CODEWITHSUNDEEP
jsonregexsed
user1330734
user1330734

Reputation: 470

How to surround JSON values with characters using sed

I would like to do append some characters to JSON values using sed.
For example given: 

{"contactForm":{"title":"Mr","firstName":"Jimmy","phonenumber":"12341234"}}

I want to transform into: 

{"contactForm":{"title":"_Mr_","firstName":"_Jimmy_","phonenumber":"_12341234_"}}

Note the values only are surrounded by underscores.

Using this expression almost results in the right matches (apart from matching curly braces at the end):

[^:]+(?=,|$)

See example at: https://regex101.com/r/nE5eV3/409

But I can't get sed to even print the capture as a starting point:

sed 's/[^:]+(?=,|$)/\\1/'
{"contactForm":{"title":"Mr","firstName":"Jimmy","phonenumber":"12341234"}}
{"contactForm":{"title":"Mr","firstName":"Jimmy","phonenumber":"12341234"}}

How would I use sed to surround these values with the underscore?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 70

Answers (1)

Wiktor Stribiżew
Wiktor Stribiżew

Reputation: 626932

You may use

sed 's/:"\([^"]*\)"/:"_\1_"/g' file > newfile

The POSIX BRE pattern matches:

  • :" - a :" substring
  • \([^"]*\) - Capturing group 1: any 0 or more chars other than "
  • " - a " char.

The RHS contains a \1 placeholder that pastes back the value stored in capturing group #1.

Upvotes: 1

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