Given a file with multiple lines, I want to change every space to dash.
I did like that:
#!/bin/bash
while read line; do
echo "${line// /-}"
done
This works just fine, but I need a better method!
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2FYI, unix.stackexchange.com/q/169716/38906cuonglm– cuonglm2016-06-17 01:33:00 +00:00Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 1:33
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5 Answers
The standard tr utility does exactly this:
tr ' ' '-' <filename.old >filename.new
You can use a tool like sponge to do in-place editing (hides the fact that a temporary file is being used):
tr ' ' '-' <filename | sponge filename
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Here, no need for sponge, you can use
tr ' ' - < filename 1<> filenameStéphane Chazelas– Stéphane Chazelas2022-12-23 17:23:04 +00:00Commented Dec 23, 2022 at 17:23
sed --in-place 's/ /-/g' /path/to/file
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3
y/ /-/works too.Digital Trauma– Digital Trauma2016-06-16 22:00:44 +00:00Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 22:00
with perl:
perl -ne 's/ /-/g;print ' FILE
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Bit weird to use
-ntonotprintand then callprintby hand afterwards. Why not justperl -pe 's/ /-/g' FILE?Stéphane Chazelas– Stéphane Chazelas2022-12-23 17:24:19 +00:00Commented Dec 23, 2022 at 17:24 -
@StéphaneChazelas The answer is from 7 years ago. I have no idea about my answer; Your comment is definitely correctBaba– Baba2022-12-23 17:29:49 +00:00Commented Dec 23, 2022 at 17:29
Use -i to have it write the changes to the file or the -e to have it just write the changes to stdout without modifying the file.
sed -i 's/ /-/g' filename
sed -e 's/ /-/g' filename
I like to use replace.
replace " " "-" </path/to/file
answered Jun 16, 2016 at 19:14
Luciano Andress Martini
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1I like to have my scripts be portable... ;-)2016-06-16 20:42:59 +00:00Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 20:42
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In this case i prefer to use shell script for anything, using only shell commands so it can run in various kinds of jail shell. But the user wont like to use the while loop, as they say.Luciano Andress Martini– Luciano Andress Martini2016-06-16 20:44:12 +00:00Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 20:44
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So
replaceis a script that you wrote? I've never seen it before. It certainly isn't a standard Unix utility and it's not available on the machines I'm using. Oh, I found it! It's a Linux thingy? Cute. ;-)2016-06-16 20:47:13 +00:00Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 20:47 -
No isnt a shell script, im not trying to help with a shell script because the user wont to use shell script built-in command, but external tools like sed or tr, or replace! Its a external program that i think its very faster. I am giving +1 for you because tr is a very common tool in a lot of unix environments. But i personally prefer to use pure shell built-in commands, even if the unix clans think it is a bad practice.Luciano Andress Martini– Luciano Andress Martini2016-06-16 20:48:47 +00:00Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 20:48