sed: replace exact string (upper and lower cases)

[support_billa]

hello,

i have a file ( parameter file of a database. filename: init.ora). the string length of the database sid are 4 characters.

database sid name is : INTE . i want to replace the sid name to a new sid name. i have combinations like:

- INTE_inte or INTE or /INTE/ # comment

- but there are some strings like: query_rewrite_integrity ... this string also include "inte" , but this string i don't want to replace !

so i search for the string "INTE" or "inte"

grep -E "INTE[^A-Z]|INTE$|inte[^a-z]|inte$" init.ora

 old replacement was ( not exact)

sed -e "s|INTE|AAAA|g" -e "s|inte|aaaa|g"

 but this statement works with Linux "sed" and not with HP-UX "sed" and didn't the right output:

sed -e "s/INTE\([^A-Z]\|$\)/AAAA\1/" -e "s/inte\([^a-z]\|$|\)/aaaa\1/" init.ora

are there any alternatives ? an example file is in the attachments, but you have to rename from init_ora.txt to init.ora

kind regards

[Dennis Handly · Accepted solution]

>are there any alternatives?

You're trying to use sed with EREs.  Instead repeat the script twice for each:

sed -e 's/INTE\([^A-Z]\)/AAAA\1/g' \
        -e 's/INTE$/AAAA/' \
        -e 's/inte\([^a-z]\)/aaaa\1/g' \
        -e 's/inte$/aaaa/' \

   init.ora

[support_billa]

in the meantime i got support of a perl programer

perl -p -e 'while (/INTE/gi) { if (substr($_,$+[0]) !~/=/ && substr($_,0,$-[0]) !~/#/) { s/INTE/INUA/; s/inte/inua/; } }' init.ora

the usage in a shell script will be ( i didn't a better solution) :

STRING_ACT="INUA"
STRING_OLD="INTE"
CHANGE_FILE="init.ora"

STRING_OLD_LOW=$(echo ${STRING_OLD} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
STRING_ACT_LOW=$(echo ${STRING_ACT} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

P_STRING_ACT="${STRING_ACT}" \
P_STRING_OLD="${STRING_OLD}" \
P_STRING_OLD_LOW="${STRING_OLD_LOW}" \
P_STRING_ACT_LOW="${STRING_ACT_LOW}" \
perl -i -p -e 'while (/$ENV{P_STRING_OLD}/gi) { if (substr($_,$+[0]) !~/=/ && substr($_,0,$-[0]) !~/#/) { s/$ENV{P_STRING_OLD}/$ENV{P_STRING_ACT}/; s/$ENV{P_STRING_OLD_LOW}/$ENV{P_STRING_ACT_LOW}/; } }' ${CHANGE_FILE

i mean, the "sed" is easier to read.