sed -- last field replace

[Stephen Ray Badgett]

sed last field replace

text file ...
hello"|"\388"|"376"|""
hello"|"\388"|"376"|"meANDyou"

sed file
s/|""$/Z/g

results ..
hello"|"meANDyou"|"\388"|"376"Z
hello"|"meANDyou"|"\388"|"376"|"meANDyou"

using sed how can I replace the "meANDyou" or any other quoted text or digits that is on the end of the line with a Z ?

Steve

[Dennis Handly · Accepted solution]

If you want to replace quoted text:
sed -e 's/|".*"$/Z/'

Did you want to replace quoted numbers or just raw numbers? For the latter:
sed -e 's/|[0-9]*$/Z/'

And you can combine both -e patterns.

Hmm, this doesn't work because it will replace your "\388" string too. So you may need to use awk -f"|" and replace field $4.

Or using this sed pattern assuming 4 fields with "|":
's/\(.*\)|\(.*\)|\(.*\)|".*"$/\1|\2|\3|Z/'

This takes the fields apart and only puts back the first 3.

[Peter Godron]

Steve,
#!/usr/bin/sh
cat a.lis
awk -F'|' '{
for (i=1;iprintf "%s|",$i
printf "Z"
printf "\n";
}' < a.lis

Produces:
hello"|"\388"|"376"|""
hello"|"\388"|"376"|"meANDyou"
hello"|"\388"|"376"|Z
hello"|"\388"|"376"|Z

First two lines are the original input, next two the output.

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http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/helptips.do?#33 on how to reward any useful answers given to your questions.

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[Peter Nikitka]

Hi,

it is not clear, if you want to have the additional string enclosed in double quotes or have the double quotes of the last field replaced.

txt='hello"|"\388"|"376"|"meANDyou"'
First (Leave quotes):
echo $txt |sed 's/[^"]*"$/Z"/'
hello"|"\388"|"376"|"Z"

Second (drop quotes):
echo $txt |sed 's/"[^"]*"$/Z/'
hello"|"\388"|"376"|Z

mfG Peter

[Stephen Ray Badgett]

Peter Nikitka...

That works perfectly

Thank you,
Steve

[Stephen Ray Badgett]

Peter Nikitka

Hd the answer I was needing and the other had solutions too :)