insert string between each pair of doublequotes

Question

I am stuck with situation, I have string as shown below:

-name "B_12*" -o -name "B_21*" -o -name "B_31" -o -name "B_41"

My requirement is I want to convert above string is as shown below:

-name "B_12*.tar" -o -name "B_21*.tar" -o -name "B_31.tar" -o -name "B_41.tar"

I am not expert with bash commands but I have little bit idea the problem could be solved with sed command.

You should add more details on what exactly needs to be replaced. Is it always `-name "B_XX*"` or something else? — James Z, Mar 15 '20 at 09:26
It looks like you're trying to construct a list of arguments (for the `find` command?) as a string. This is almost always the wrong way to do it. The usual way to do it right is with an array instead of a plain string (see [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12136948/why-does-shell-ignore-quotes-in-arguments-passed-to-it-through-variables)). — Gordon Davisson, Mar 15 '20 at 16:27

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 15 '20 at 09:03

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The only tricky part here is that you need to match both quotes so that they won't be matched again. With a sed distro which has ERE support by -E option, following command would suffice.

sed -E 's/("[^"]*)"/\1.tar"/g' file

answered Mar 15 '20 at 09:03

oguz ismail

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Hello, it seems that the query is always done in sed. It is convenient! – Dang D. Khanh Mar 15 '20 at 09:12
I keep thinking that I have to make a query (such as a loop to do this). thanks! – Dang D. Khanh Mar 15 '20 at 09:19
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The `g` af the end of the regex tells sed to loop over all the occurences that have to be changed. – Pierre François Mar 15 '20 at 11:09
@Pierre correct. except that it's not a part of *regex* but *flag* part of the *sed script*; misuse of terminology often leads to confusion – oguz ismail Mar 15 '20 at 11:26
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@oguzismail: Of course, I mean *after the regex*, better than *at the end of the regex*. – Pierre François Mar 15 '20 at 11:28
Hi Thanks for your answer.. What would be regex if i want to search only files having number before the extension example: B_12.csv, B_22.csv and B_22-UK.csv I want regex whic should get me B_12.cvs and B_22.csv and should exlcude B_22-UK.csv – Qasim Mar 18 '20 at 09:09
@Qasim That's a separate question – oguz ismail Mar 18 '20 at 09:32

Dang D. Khanh · Answer 2 · 2020-03-15T09:14:30.203

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This pattern will match the text string without single quote , all you need to do is get all the matches and perform an alternate query to add .tar

\b[A-Z][^"]+

\b[A-Z] match a Char in scope [A-Z]
[^"] match until "

Demo Regex101.com

sed-replace-syntax

edited Mar 15 '20 at 09:14

answered Mar 15 '20 at 08:53

Dang D. Khanh

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I order to have the same results as regex101.com, I think you need to add the `-E` flag to the *sed* command. – Pierre François Mar 15 '20 at 11:16
Even with -E some seds will not recognize `\b` – oguz ismail Mar 15 '20 at 12:00
Hi Thanks for your answer.. What would be regex if i want to search only files having number before the extension example: B_12.csv, B_22.csv and B_22-UK.csv I want regex whic should get me B_12.cvs and B_22.csv and should exlcude B_22-UK.csv – Qasim Mar 18 '20 at 09:06

insert string between each pair of doublequotes

2 Answers2