Bash working code to delete first or last line from file

Question

I saw the sed examples, but no matter how I write that it won't delete my first line. Actually, I did more tests and it won't delete my first line either, so for sure I'm doing something wrong:

sed '1d' filename

or for last line

sed '$d' file name

I want the changes to take place in the same file, and don't want another output file. So please, what's the correct way to remove the last line in my file?

possible duplicate of [Bash - remove the last line from a file](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4881930/bash-remove-the-last-line-from-a-file) — martin clayton, Nov 22 '11 at 23:07

score 17 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:24

17

sed -i '$ d' filename. The -i flag edits file in place.

answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:24

Russell Dias

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This deletes the last line. To delete the first line, use `sed -i '1,1d' filename`. – skolima Dec 10 '13 at 12:02
@skolima The second address is superflous; just `1d` is sufficient. – tripleee Aug 23 '18 at 14:46

score 14 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 23 '18 at 14:02

14

Here you go ! delete first line (also BSD/MacOS compatible)

sed '1,1d' file1  >> file1.out

delete last row/line

sed '$d' file2  >> file2.out

edited Aug 23 '18 at 14:02

sorin

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answered Feb 16 '13 at 18:05

name_doesnt_matters

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Nice answer. I pretty much concatenate both as follows: `sed "1,1d; $d" file1 > file2` – luis.espinal Jul 16 '13 at 19:51

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:24

5

You can use the --in-place (-i) switch:

sed -i '$d' filename

Source: man sed

answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:24

Mark Byers

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score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:25

5

If your sed supports in-place editing, it's sed -e '1d' -e '$d' -i filename.

answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:25

Michael Krelin - hacker

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score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 16 '13 at 20:16

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Because nobody gives it any love:

ed filename <<'END'
1d
$d
w
q
END

answered Jul 16 '13 at 20:16

glenn jackman

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score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Nov 23 '11 at 12:30

1

Giving this answer since sed is not tagged.

head -`wc -l test2.cc | awk '{print ($1-1)}'` test2.cc

edited Nov 23 '11 at 12:30

answered Nov 23 '11 at 11:06

Vijay

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This is not compatible with BSD version of head (MacOS) – sorin Aug 23 '18 at 14:01
And reading the entire file twice just to get the argument to pass to `head` is ... wacky. The entire thing could be done in just Awk with a single pass. – tripleee Aug 24 '18 at 08:20

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 16 '13 at 19:52

0

Try cat file1 | sed "1,1d; $d" > file2

answered Jul 16 '13 at 19:52

luis.espinal

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Bash working code to delete first or last line from file

7 Answers7

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