Sed inside bash script not working: But it works on command line

Question

I have tried the following on the command line and they work, but when I place them in a bash script I get an error (see below):

sed -e "s/INSERT_ME_HERE/"${ROOT_BUILD_HOME}"/g" ./Doxyfile > ./tmp && mv ./tmp ./Doxyfile
sed -e "s/INSERT_ME_HERE/'${ROOT_BUILD_HOME}'/g" ./Doxyfile > ./tmp && mv ./tmp ./Doxyfile
sed -e "s/INSERT_ME_HERE/`echo ${ROOT_BUILD_HOME}`/g" ./Doxyfile > ./tmp && mv ./tmp ./Doxyfile

The error I am getting is:

sed: -e expression #1, char 19: unknown option to `s'

However like I said I am using it from the command line and it works:

[mehoggan@hogganz400 Doxygen]$ ROOT_BUILD_HOME=MONKEY; sed -e "s/INSERT_ME_HERE/`echo ${ROOT_BUILD_HOME}`/g" ./Doxyfile | grep MONKEY
INPUT                  = MONKEY

Why does it work under one case and not the other?

Also ROOT_BUILD_HOME is set, I echo it right before the sed expression within the shell script.

echo `date`: "Going to run doxygen on source and move to ${ROOT_BUILD_HOME}";

Just a side note: instead of using a ./tmp you should give mktemp a try for such tasks since it improves the security and robustness of your scripts. — mschilli
– mschilli, Commented Sep 10, 2013 at 6:10

ruakh · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11 21:46:37Z

5

I'm guessing that ROOT_BUILD_HOME starts with a /, which sed is interpreting as ending your replacement-string. Am I right? If so, then try using a different separator:

sed -e "s#INSERT_ME_HERE#${ROOT_BUILD_HOME}#g" ./Doxyfile > ./tmp && mv ./tmp ./Doxyfile

answered Jan 11, 2012 at 21:46

ruakh

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3 Comments

Matthew Hoggan Over a year ago

That did the trick sir +1 for you. However, can you still explain why it would work on the command line and not in the script?

Gordon Davisson Over a year ago

@Matthew because it only fails if the value of ROOT_BUILD_HOME contains a slash. The value in the script does, but "MONKEY" doesn't.

Sergey Benner Over a year ago

you can escape it \/. Or create a sed string with replacing / with \/ something like echo /home/|sed -e 's/\//\\\//g'

Sergey Benner · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11 22:10:51Z

1

#!/bin/bash

ABC=`echo ${ROOT_BUILD_HOME}`
echo $ABC
sed -e 's/INSERT_ME_HERE/'$ABC'/g' <./Doxyfile > ./tmp && mv ./tmp ./Doxyfile

hope this helps

answered Jan 11, 2012 at 22:10

Sergey Benner

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2 Comments

Sergey Benner Over a year ago

Hope this one will give you more insight why it did work on script :)

mschilli Over a year ago

I do not get what you need the ABC variable for. What would be different if you substituted the first two lines with echo ${ROOT_BUILD_HOME} or even echo $ROOT_BUILD_HOME?

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