sed unterminated 's' command

Question

I have the below sed command:

Ctimezone="$shortName = exec('date +%Z');\
  $longName = timezone_name_from_abbr($shortName);\
  date_default_timezone_set($longName);"

sed -i 10s@.*@$Ctimezone@ /home/file.php

However this gives me the error:

sed -e expression #1, char 7: unterminated 's' command

My understanding of sed is not great so im sure its an easy fix but couldn't work it out myself.

If you need any more info let me know

Changed to:

sed -i "10s@.*@$Ctimezone@" /home/file.php

but what is put into file.php is:

= exec('date +%Z'); = timezone_name_from_abbr(); date_default_timezone_set();

not

$shortName = exec('date +%Z'); $longName = timezone_name_from_abbr($shortName); date_default_timezone_set($longName);

You need to quote the sed expression: `sed -i "10s@.*@$Ctimezone@" /home/file.php` — fedorqui, Jun 14 '13 at 13:52
I'm not sure what the @ symbol does to bash variables, but try changing the $Ctimezone to ${Ctimezone} in the actual sed command. — slugonamission, Jun 14 '13 at 13:52
@fedorqui that works however what ends up being entered into the file.php is " = exec('date +%Z'); = timezone_name_from_abbr(); date_default_timezone_set(); — DevWithZachary, Jun 14 '13 at 14:01
yes, that's what your code does. we have no idea what you're trying to do. — Karoly Horvath, Jun 14 '13 at 14:03
@KarolyHorvath sorry everything thing within the Ctimezone should be a treated as a string so $shortName is not a bash variable etc. — DevWithZachary, Jun 14 '13 at 14:58
Zac, you should enclose the RHS of `Ctimezone` in single quotes then so that shell doesn't expand the `$` terms. — doubleDown, Jun 14 '13 at 14:59

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 14 '13 at 14:05

Variables get expanded in double quotes, and since $shortName isn't set, it becomes an empty string.

Escape the dollar signs: \$.

Or, if the file you're trying to modify allows exec("date +%Z"); try to switch ' and ". There's no substitution within single quotes.

sed unterminated 's' command

1 Answers1