sed command issues w/ html string replace

Question

I am stumped on why this sed command would not be working:

sed 's/<script id="live-reload"[\s\S]*?<\/script>/test/g' www_public/index.html > www_public/index.html.temp

It should replace the live-reload script tag of the following HTML with 'test':

<!DOCTYPE html>
<!--[if lt IE 7]>      <html class="no-js lt-ie9 lt-ie8 lt-ie7"> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 7]>         <html class="no-js lt-ie9 lt-ie8"> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 8]>         <html class="no-js lt-ie9"> <![endif]-->
<!--[if gt IE 8]><!--> <html class="no-js"> <!--<![endif]-->
    <head>

        <meta charset="utf-8">
        <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1">
        <title>AssembleJS</title>
        <meta name="description" content="">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">

        <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/css/main.css">

    </head>

    <body>

        <script id="require-lib" data-main="src/config" src="src/libs/require.js"></script>

        <script id="live-reload">document.write('<script src="http://' + (location.host || 'localhost').split(':')[0] + ':35729/livereload.js?snipver=1"></' + 'script>')</script>

        <script id="test"> bla bla bla </script>

    </body>

</html>

Here's the regex working:

http://regexr.com?339ga

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

You need to use -r for ? as it's extended regex:

$ sed -r 's/<script id="live-reload".*?<\/script>/test/g' file

or escape it:

$ sed 's/<script id="live-reload".*\?<\/script>/test/g' file

Output:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<!--[if lt IE 7]>      <html class="no-js lt-ie9 lt-ie8 lt-ie7"> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 7]>         <html class="no-js lt-ie9 lt-ie8"> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 8]>         <html class="no-js lt-ie9"> <![endif]-->
<!--[if gt IE 8]><!--> <html class="no-js"> <!--<![endif]-->
    <head>

        <meta charset="utf-8">
        <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1">
        <title>AssembleJS</title>
        <meta name="description" content="">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">

        <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/css/main.css">

    </head>

    <body>

        <script id="require-lib" data-main="src/config" src="src/libs/require.js"></script>

        test

        <script id="test"> bla bla bla </script>

    </body>

</html>

Notes:

Also changed [\s\S]*? to .*? as they're complimentary groups.
The g flag is only necessary for multiple matches on a single line.
If you're running Mac the -r flag is -E so check with sed --help for the extended regex option.
Obligatory don't parse [x]html with regex warning, using a parser.

sed command issues w/ html string replace

1 Answers1