14

I need to replace a string in a (large) file on a MacOSX 10.10. My file looks like this:

Y16-TUL-SUB_ Y16-TUL-SUB_ Y16-TUL-SUB_ Y16-TUL-SUB_ Y16-TUL-SUB-
Y16-TUL-SUB_ Y16-TUL-SUB_

and I need to replace Y16_TUL_SUB_ with Y16-TUL-SUB-. File name could be test.txt.

I have tried a lot of the different suggestions with sed, awk and python. E.g this:

#!/usr/bin/env python import sys import os import tempfile

 tmp=tempfile.mkstemp()

 with open(sys.argv[1]) as fd1, open(tmp[1],'w') as fd2:
     for line in fd1:
         line = line.replace('Y16_TUL_SUB_','Y16-TUL-SUB-')
         fd2.write(line)

 os.rename(tmp[1],sys.argv[1])

or sed supposedly for mac

or find:

 find . -type f -name test.txt | xargs sed -i ""
 "s/Y16_TUL_SUB_/Y16-TUL-SUB-/g'

or sed:

 sed -i -e "s/Y16_TUL_SUB_/Y16-TUL-SUB/g" test.txt

or awk

 awk '{gsub(/Y16_TUL_SUB_/,"Y16-TUL-SUB")}' test.txt

All these commands have run and returned empty output files, or not changed anything in the original files anyway.

What am I doing wrong?

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1
  • did you resolve the problem? Commented Feb 8, 2020 at 15:34

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
22

How it to do with sed in OS X.

I've created test file:

$ cat test.txt
tasdasdasd

asd
asd
as
d
as
d
ddddddd

ffdfdfdfdfdf

Calling sed ('' is necessarily parameter):

$ sed -i '' "s/as/replaced_ad/g" test.txt

Show output file:

$ cat test.txt
treplaced_addreplaced_addreplaced_add

replaced_add
replaced_add
replaced_ad
d
replaced_ad
d
ddddddd

ffdfdfdfdfdf

sed in OS X is slightly changes from GNU sed. Use man sed in OS X terminal to know how to use sed.

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4
  • Hi Yurij, I appreciate your help, but unfortunately this does nothing for me. Once again, no changes in file. :( Output file is empty Commented May 23, 2019 at 2:26
  • When I copy-paste (or write myself) your EXACT command on the EXACT file you display, the output file I get is empty. Commented May 23, 2019 at 2:32
  • This exact command worked for me on Catalina. But I have ohmyzsh, maybe it changes standard sed Commented Apr 5, 2021 at 9:03
  • "sed in OS X is slightly change[d] from GNU sed." - Of course it is. Apple has to pollute everything! Commented Nov 29, 2022 at 2:01
7

Weird. Replacing " with ' apparently worked. 

sed -i '' "s/as/replaced_ad/g" test.txt

did nothing, whereas

sed -i '' 's/as/replaced_ad/g' test.txt

gave me what I needed. ?????

I thought there were no difference between single and double quotes on machos?????

Well, as long as I can go on with my work..... Thanks Yurij, again.

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