bashsed

Bash `sed` regex grouping

I'm trying to turn a line like this to using sed I'm not really good with regex and I'm looking for some help with the sed command.

/Application/Lockscreen/ @smiths
/Application/BlueLock/ @egoists

to

path: */Application/Lockscreen/* @smiths
path: */Application/BlueLock/* @egoists
Solution

  • I would match on the first word [^ ]* then add the pre- and suffix to it &:

    $ sed 's/[^ ]*/path: *&*/' input.txt
path: */Application/Lockscreen/* @smiths
path: */Application/BlueLock/* @egoists

    Or if it makes more sense in your context replace the space with '* ' and the beginning ^ with 'path: ' (order matters):

    $ sed 's/ /* /; s/^/path: */' input.txt
path: */Application/Lockscreen/* @smiths
path: */Application/BlueLock/* @egoists