use sed to replace each white space with a backslash












0















just want to escape spaces in windows filepath. I'm trying this
echo "111 1111 "| sed -e "s/[[:space:]]/\ /g" that only match spaces but do not replace.










share|improve this question

























  • I agree, the title is misleading ;-) But "ecran[sic] spaces in ... filepath" is pretty clear. echo "111 1111 " has a fixed number of whitespace, so I don't really get your quesiton.

    – RoVo
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:53


















0















just want to escape spaces in windows filepath. I'm trying this
echo "111 1111 "| sed -e "s/[[:space:]]/\ /g" that only match spaces but do not replace.










share|improve this question

























  • I agree, the title is misleading ;-) But "ecran[sic] spaces in ... filepath" is pretty clear. echo "111 1111 " has a fixed number of whitespace, so I don't really get your quesiton.

    – RoVo
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:53
















0












0








0








just want to escape spaces in windows filepath. I'm trying this
echo "111 1111 "| sed -e "s/[[:space:]]/\ /g" that only match spaces but do not replace.










share|improve this question
















just want to escape spaces in windows filepath. I'm trying this
echo "111 1111 "| sed -e "s/[[:space:]]/\ /g" that only match spaces but do not replace.







command-line text-processing sed windows-subsystem-for-linux






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Dec 15 '18 at 14:51







Yurij

















asked Dec 14 '18 at 14:37









YurijYurij

9010




9010













  • I agree, the title is misleading ;-) But "ecran[sic] spaces in ... filepath" is pretty clear. echo "111 1111 " has a fixed number of whitespace, so I don't really get your quesiton.

    – RoVo
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:53





















  • I agree, the title is misleading ;-) But "ecran[sic] spaces in ... filepath" is pretty clear. echo "111 1111 " has a fixed number of whitespace, so I don't really get your quesiton.

    – RoVo
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:53



















I agree, the title is misleading ;-) But "ecran[sic] spaces in ... filepath" is pretty clear. echo "111 1111 " has a fixed number of whitespace, so I don't really get your quesiton.

– RoVo
Dec 14 '18 at 14:53







I agree, the title is misleading ;-) But "ecran[sic] spaces in ... filepath" is pretty clear. echo "111 1111 " has a fixed number of whitespace, so I don't really get your quesiton.

– RoVo
Dec 14 '18 at 14:53












2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















3














If you use double quotes, bash interprets \ and outputs which is then again interpreted from sed together with the following space to just the space.



So you need one more backslash:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e "s/[[:space:]]/\ /g"


but better to use single quotes to prevent the bash interpreting:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e 's/[[:space:]]/\ /g'


Output:



111  1111 




Alternative method:



If you have the file path as a variable, you can use Shell methods:



path="111  1111 "
echo ${path// /\ }





share|improve this answer


























  • What would the out put be like?

    – George Udosen
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:47











  • +1 for Alternative method.

    – WinEunuuchs2Unix
    Dec 14 '18 at 23:57











  • nice method with variable, thanks. It is useful for my .bashrc

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 14:53



















1














[[:space:]] doesn’t match just spaces but rather all whitespace characters including tabs and line breaks. If you really want that, GNU sed (like in Ubuntu) has the shorthand class s for it:



sed 's_s_\&_g'


This substitutes every (g) whitespace character (s, matches spaces, tabs and newlines embedded in the pattern/hold spaces) in every line with a backslash (\) and itself – & is the whole matched pattern. I use a different delimiter because slashes and backslashes always look confusing together; s/s/\&/g is of course valid as well.



If you want to replace only space characters, rather use:



sed 's_ _\&_g'


Example run



$ echo "111  1111 " | sed 's_ _\&_g'
111 1111


For further reading on character classes see here on regular-expressions.info.






share|improve this answer


























  • Thanks, it works too. an unusual form of regex. not so widely common?

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:01











  • @Yurij I didn’t use any regex, do you mean & for the entire matched pattern? That’s actually quite common…

    – dessert
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:13











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2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes








2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









3














If you use double quotes, bash interprets \ and outputs which is then again interpreted from sed together with the following space to just the space.



So you need one more backslash:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e "s/[[:space:]]/\ /g"


but better to use single quotes to prevent the bash interpreting:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e 's/[[:space:]]/\ /g'


Output:



111  1111 




Alternative method:



If you have the file path as a variable, you can use Shell methods:



path="111  1111 "
echo ${path// /\ }





share|improve this answer


























  • What would the out put be like?

    – George Udosen
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:47











  • +1 for Alternative method.

    – WinEunuuchs2Unix
    Dec 14 '18 at 23:57











  • nice method with variable, thanks. It is useful for my .bashrc

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 14:53
















3














If you use double quotes, bash interprets \ and outputs which is then again interpreted from sed together with the following space to just the space.



So you need one more backslash:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e "s/[[:space:]]/\ /g"


but better to use single quotes to prevent the bash interpreting:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e 's/[[:space:]]/\ /g'


Output:



111  1111 




Alternative method:



If you have the file path as a variable, you can use Shell methods:



path="111  1111 "
echo ${path// /\ }





share|improve this answer


























  • What would the out put be like?

    – George Udosen
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:47











  • +1 for Alternative method.

    – WinEunuuchs2Unix
    Dec 14 '18 at 23:57











  • nice method with variable, thanks. It is useful for my .bashrc

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 14:53














3












3








3







If you use double quotes, bash interprets \ and outputs which is then again interpreted from sed together with the following space to just the space.



So you need one more backslash:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e "s/[[:space:]]/\ /g"


but better to use single quotes to prevent the bash interpreting:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e 's/[[:space:]]/\ /g'


Output:



111  1111 




Alternative method:



If you have the file path as a variable, you can use Shell methods:



path="111  1111 "
echo ${path// /\ }





share|improve this answer















If you use double quotes, bash interprets \ and outputs which is then again interpreted from sed together with the following space to just the space.



So you need one more backslash:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e "s/[[:space:]]/\ /g"


but better to use single quotes to prevent the bash interpreting:



echo "111  1111 " | sed -e 's/[[:space:]]/\ /g'


Output:



111  1111 




Alternative method:



If you have the file path as a variable, you can use Shell methods:



path="111  1111 "
echo ${path// /\ }






share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Dec 14 '18 at 15:01

























answered Dec 14 '18 at 14:44









RoVoRoVo

7,1211741




7,1211741













  • What would the out put be like?

    – George Udosen
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:47











  • +1 for Alternative method.

    – WinEunuuchs2Unix
    Dec 14 '18 at 23:57











  • nice method with variable, thanks. It is useful for my .bashrc

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 14:53



















  • What would the out put be like?

    – George Udosen
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:47











  • +1 for Alternative method.

    – WinEunuuchs2Unix
    Dec 14 '18 at 23:57











  • nice method with variable, thanks. It is useful for my .bashrc

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 14:53

















What would the out put be like?

– George Udosen
Dec 14 '18 at 14:47





What would the out put be like?

– George Udosen
Dec 14 '18 at 14:47













+1 for Alternative method.

– WinEunuuchs2Unix
Dec 14 '18 at 23:57





+1 for Alternative method.

– WinEunuuchs2Unix
Dec 14 '18 at 23:57













nice method with variable, thanks. It is useful for my .bashrc

– Yurij
Dec 15 '18 at 14:53





nice method with variable, thanks. It is useful for my .bashrc

– Yurij
Dec 15 '18 at 14:53













1














[[:space:]] doesn’t match just spaces but rather all whitespace characters including tabs and line breaks. If you really want that, GNU sed (like in Ubuntu) has the shorthand class s for it:



sed 's_s_\&_g'


This substitutes every (g) whitespace character (s, matches spaces, tabs and newlines embedded in the pattern/hold spaces) in every line with a backslash (\) and itself – & is the whole matched pattern. I use a different delimiter because slashes and backslashes always look confusing together; s/s/\&/g is of course valid as well.



If you want to replace only space characters, rather use:



sed 's_ _\&_g'


Example run



$ echo "111  1111 " | sed 's_ _\&_g'
111 1111


For further reading on character classes see here on regular-expressions.info.






share|improve this answer


























  • Thanks, it works too. an unusual form of regex. not so widely common?

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:01











  • @Yurij I didn’t use any regex, do you mean & for the entire matched pattern? That’s actually quite common…

    – dessert
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:13
















1














[[:space:]] doesn’t match just spaces but rather all whitespace characters including tabs and line breaks. If you really want that, GNU sed (like in Ubuntu) has the shorthand class s for it:



sed 's_s_\&_g'


This substitutes every (g) whitespace character (s, matches spaces, tabs and newlines embedded in the pattern/hold spaces) in every line with a backslash (\) and itself – & is the whole matched pattern. I use a different delimiter because slashes and backslashes always look confusing together; s/s/\&/g is of course valid as well.



If you want to replace only space characters, rather use:



sed 's_ _\&_g'


Example run



$ echo "111  1111 " | sed 's_ _\&_g'
111 1111


For further reading on character classes see here on regular-expressions.info.






share|improve this answer


























  • Thanks, it works too. an unusual form of regex. not so widely common?

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:01











  • @Yurij I didn’t use any regex, do you mean & for the entire matched pattern? That’s actually quite common…

    – dessert
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:13














1












1








1







[[:space:]] doesn’t match just spaces but rather all whitespace characters including tabs and line breaks. If you really want that, GNU sed (like in Ubuntu) has the shorthand class s for it:



sed 's_s_\&_g'


This substitutes every (g) whitespace character (s, matches spaces, tabs and newlines embedded in the pattern/hold spaces) in every line with a backslash (\) and itself – & is the whole matched pattern. I use a different delimiter because slashes and backslashes always look confusing together; s/s/\&/g is of course valid as well.



If you want to replace only space characters, rather use:



sed 's_ _\&_g'


Example run



$ echo "111  1111 " | sed 's_ _\&_g'
111 1111


For further reading on character classes see here on regular-expressions.info.






share|improve this answer















[[:space:]] doesn’t match just spaces but rather all whitespace characters including tabs and line breaks. If you really want that, GNU sed (like in Ubuntu) has the shorthand class s for it:



sed 's_s_\&_g'


This substitutes every (g) whitespace character (s, matches spaces, tabs and newlines embedded in the pattern/hold spaces) in every line with a backslash (\) and itself – & is the whole matched pattern. I use a different delimiter because slashes and backslashes always look confusing together; s/s/\&/g is of course valid as well.



If you want to replace only space characters, rather use:



sed 's_ _\&_g'


Example run



$ echo "111  1111 " | sed 's_ _\&_g'
111 1111


For further reading on character classes see here on regular-expressions.info.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Dec 14 '18 at 23:01

























answered Dec 14 '18 at 19:48









dessertdessert

22.4k56198




22.4k56198













  • Thanks, it works too. an unusual form of regex. not so widely common?

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:01











  • @Yurij I didn’t use any regex, do you mean & for the entire matched pattern? That’s actually quite common…

    – dessert
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:13



















  • Thanks, it works too. an unusual form of regex. not so widely common?

    – Yurij
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:01











  • @Yurij I didn’t use any regex, do you mean & for the entire matched pattern? That’s actually quite common…

    – dessert
    Dec 15 '18 at 15:13

















Thanks, it works too. an unusual form of regex. not so widely common?

– Yurij
Dec 15 '18 at 15:01





Thanks, it works too. an unusual form of regex. not so widely common?

– Yurij
Dec 15 '18 at 15:01













@Yurij I didn’t use any regex, do you mean & for the entire matched pattern? That’s actually quite common…

– dessert
Dec 15 '18 at 15:13





@Yurij I didn’t use any regex, do you mean & for the entire matched pattern? That’s actually quite common…

– dessert
Dec 15 '18 at 15:13


















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