awk/sed grep between two patterns and obtain what is between them, is this possible?

Question

I need more help in this case, to do something similar to a grep between two patterns: I need to look for Everyone Allow FullControl

Say I have this:

    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\Service_Legal 
    Access : BUILTIN\Administrators Allow  FullControl
    -----------------------
    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\balco 
    Access : Everyone Allow  268435456
             Everyone Allow  FullControl
    -----------------------
    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\BCDRPlanning 
    Access : Everyone Allow  FullControl
             Everyone Allow  268435456
    -----------------------

so I would get something similar to this:

    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\balco 
             Everyone Allow  FullControl
    -----------------------
    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\BCDRPlanning 
    Access : Everyone Allow  FullControl

I did not know how to do this so I come here

jkshah · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-19T06:06:55.070

Try using sed

sed -nr '/-{3,}/h; /Path\s*:/H; /Everyone\s+Allow\s+FullControl/{x;G;p}' file

Output:

    -----------------------
    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\balco
             Everyone Allow  FullControl
    -----------------------
    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\BCDRPlanning
    Access : Everyone Allow  FullControl

Short Description

sed -nr '
    /-{3,}/h;            # if '---' pattern is found in a line, copy it to hold space
    /Path\s*:/H;         # if 'Path  :' pattern is found in a line, append it to hold space
    /Everyone\s+Allow\s+FullControl/{x;G;p}    # if 'Everyone Allow  FullControl' pattern is found in a line, 1) exchange Pattern and Hold space, 2) Append pattern space to hold space and 3) print pattern space.
' file

Here we make use of Pattern Space and Hold Space manipulator of sed

Snippet from man sed

   h H    Copy/append pattern space to hold space.   
   g G    Copy/append hold space to pattern space.
   x      Exchange the contents of the hold and pattern spaces.

Works perfectly. Incredible how easy you make it seem, could you explain me a little the syntax? — Eduardo, Nov 19 '13 at 05:59
@Eduardo Glad that it worked for you! Some more references: [SO answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/12834372/526471), [Examples for Sed Hold and Pattern Buffer Operations](http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2009/12/unix-sed-tutorial-7-examples-for-sed-hold-and-pattern-buffer-operations/) — jkshah, Nov 19 '13 at 06:33

Jotne · Answer 2 · 2013-11-19T06:34:38.150

You can do some like this with awk

awk '/Everyone Allow/ && /FullControl/' RS="-" file

    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\balco
    Access : Everyone Allow  268435456
             Everyone Allow  FullControl


    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\BCDRPlanning
    Access : Everyone Allow  FullControl
             Everyone Allow  268435456

To restore separator:

awk '/Everyone Allow/ && /FullControl/' RS="-" file | awk '/[0-9]+/ && /Everyone/ {next} $0=="" {$0="-----------------------"}1'
-----------------------
    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\balco
             Everyone Allow  FullControl

-----------------------
    Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\eiesc1\BCDRPlanning
    Access : Everyone Allow  FullControl

awk/sed grep between two patterns and obtain what is between them, is this possible?

2 Answers2