How can I replace a newline with its escape sequence?





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3















Using sed to make text that contains certain characters suitable for use in string literals is straightforward:



sed "s/\\/\\\\/g"

sed "s/\"/\\\"/g"


But how can I do something similar with a text file containing newline characters?






sed awk







share|improve this question























  • sed won't show you the new line character in the find portion, sed is old too, like a legacy program. You could use perl, it has equivalents to sed's find and replace.

    – barlop
    Jan 18 '18 at 4:08


















3















Using sed to make text that contains certain characters suitable for use in string literals is straightforward:



sed "s/\\/\\\\/g"

sed "s/\"/\\\"/g"


But how can I do something similar with a text file containing newline characters?






sed awk







share|improve this question























  • sed won't show you the new line character in the find portion, sed is old too, like a legacy program. You could use perl, it has equivalents to sed's find and replace.

    – barlop
    Jan 18 '18 at 4:08














3












3








3


1






Using sed to make text that contains certain characters suitable for use in string literals is straightforward:



sed "s/\\/\\\\/g"

sed "s/\"/\\\"/g"


But how can I do something similar with a text file containing newline characters?






sed awk







share|improve this question














Using sed to make text that contains certain characters suitable for use in string literals is straightforward:



sed "s/\\/\\\\/g"

sed "s/\"/\\\"/g"


But how can I do something similar with a text file containing newline characters?






sed awk




sed awk






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked Aug 12 '15 at 13:34









MelabMelab

34711021




34711021













  • sed won't show you the new line character in the find portion, sed is old too, like a legacy program. You could use perl, it has equivalents to sed's find and replace.

    – barlop
    Jan 18 '18 at 4:08



















  • sed won't show you the new line character in the find portion, sed is old too, like a legacy program. You could use perl, it has equivalents to sed's find and replace.

    – barlop
    Jan 18 '18 at 4:08

















sed won't show you the new line character in the find portion, sed is old too, like a legacy program. You could use perl, it has equivalents to sed's find and replace.

– barlop
Jan 18 '18 at 4:08





sed won't show you the new line character in the find portion, sed is old too, like a legacy program. You could use perl, it has equivalents to sed's find and replace.

– barlop
Jan 18 '18 at 4:08










4 Answers
4






active

oldest

votes


















3














Use:



sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/n/\n/g'


Which uses the answer from How can I replace a newline (n) using sed? substituting an escaped newline character as the replacement to match the question here.






share|improve this answer

































    0














    sed is line based, and this can cause issues when trying to replace newline characters.



    the official documentation for sed makes a specific reference to newline characters and states they are stripped off before being passed to sed.



    I would suggest that 'tr' would probably be a better fit here.



    as an example, to replace newline characters with spaces:



    tr 'n' ' ' < inputfile





    share|improve this answer
























    • Won't [rn] be cleaner?

      – theoden
      Aug 12 '15 at 14:03











    • I guess that all depends on the source data and requirements. OP only referred to newline. I would recommend to try both and see which produces the best result. YMMV.

      – David Moylan
      Aug 12 '15 at 14:10













    • I tried using tr "n" "\n" before I posted this question and it just replaced the newline characters with backslashes. It seems to only turn a sequence into one character only.

      – Melab
      Aug 12 '15 at 20:12













    • @Melab correct. the 'tr' command will only do a single character replacement.

      – David Moylan
      Aug 15 '15 at 0:04











    • So then how does it help at all?

      – Melab
      Aug 17 '15 at 0:41



















    0














    I'd like to extend David Moytan's solution:



    cat /etc/passwd | perl -e 'while(<>) { $_ =~ s/[rn]/__NEWLINE__/g; print "$_" }'





    share|improve this answer

































      0














      I had this problem too.



      You can use the a function to start every newline with the proper escape sequence, then pipe the resulting function into echo -n which suppresses newlines.



      echo -n $(sed 'a
      
\n');


      Stick whatever you're sed-ing in the parentheses before the sed command.






      share|improve this answer


























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        4 Answers
        4






        active

        oldest

        votes








        4 Answers
        4






        active

        oldest

        votes









        active

        oldest

        votes






        active

        oldest

        votes









        3














        Use:



        sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/n/\n/g'


        Which uses the answer from How can I replace a newline (n) using sed? substituting an escaped newline character as the replacement to match the question here.






        share|improve this answer






























          3














          Use:



          sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/n/\n/g'


          Which uses the answer from How can I replace a newline (n) using sed? substituting an escaped newline character as the replacement to match the question here.






          share|improve this answer




























            3












            3








            3







            Use:



            sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/n/\n/g'


            Which uses the answer from How can I replace a newline (n) using sed? substituting an escaped newline character as the replacement to match the question here.






            share|improve this answer















            Use:



            sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/n/\n/g'


            Which uses the answer from How can I replace a newline (n) using sed? substituting an escaped newline character as the replacement to match the question here.







            share|improve this answer














            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer








            edited Feb 7 at 20:59









            Mikey T.K.

            2,18231941




            2,18231941










            answered Feb 19 '18 at 3:19









            vossad01vossad01

            1314




            1314

























                0














                sed is line based, and this can cause issues when trying to replace newline characters.



                the official documentation for sed makes a specific reference to newline characters and states they are stripped off before being passed to sed.



                I would suggest that 'tr' would probably be a better fit here.



                as an example, to replace newline characters with spaces:



                tr 'n' ' ' < inputfile





                share|improve this answer
























                • Won't [rn] be cleaner?

                  – theoden
                  Aug 12 '15 at 14:03











                • I guess that all depends on the source data and requirements. OP only referred to newline. I would recommend to try both and see which produces the best result. YMMV.

                  – David Moylan
                  Aug 12 '15 at 14:10













                • I tried using tr "n" "\n" before I posted this question and it just replaced the newline characters with backslashes. It seems to only turn a sequence into one character only.

                  – Melab
                  Aug 12 '15 at 20:12













                • @Melab correct. the 'tr' command will only do a single character replacement.

                  – David Moylan
                  Aug 15 '15 at 0:04











                • So then how does it help at all?

                  – Melab
                  Aug 17 '15 at 0:41
















                0














                sed is line based, and this can cause issues when trying to replace newline characters.



                the official documentation for sed makes a specific reference to newline characters and states they are stripped off before being passed to sed.



                I would suggest that 'tr' would probably be a better fit here.



                as an example, to replace newline characters with spaces:



                tr 'n' ' ' < inputfile





                share|improve this answer
























                • Won't [rn] be cleaner?

                  – theoden
                  Aug 12 '15 at 14:03











                • I guess that all depends on the source data and requirements. OP only referred to newline. I would recommend to try both and see which produces the best result. YMMV.

                  – David Moylan
                  Aug 12 '15 at 14:10













                • I tried using tr "n" "\n" before I posted this question and it just replaced the newline characters with backslashes. It seems to only turn a sequence into one character only.

                  – Melab
                  Aug 12 '15 at 20:12













                • @Melab correct. the 'tr' command will only do a single character replacement.

                  – David Moylan
                  Aug 15 '15 at 0:04











                • So then how does it help at all?

                  – Melab
                  Aug 17 '15 at 0:41














                0












                0








                0







                sed is line based, and this can cause issues when trying to replace newline characters.



                the official documentation for sed makes a specific reference to newline characters and states they are stripped off before being passed to sed.



                I would suggest that 'tr' would probably be a better fit here.



                as an example, to replace newline characters with spaces:



                tr 'n' ' ' < inputfile





                share|improve this answer













                sed is line based, and this can cause issues when trying to replace newline characters.



                the official documentation for sed makes a specific reference to newline characters and states they are stripped off before being passed to sed.



                I would suggest that 'tr' would probably be a better fit here.



                as an example, to replace newline characters with spaces:



                tr 'n' ' ' < inputfile






                share|improve this answer












                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer










                answered Aug 12 '15 at 14:01









                David MoylanDavid Moylan

                973




                973













                • Won't [rn] be cleaner?

                  – theoden
                  Aug 12 '15 at 14:03











                • I guess that all depends on the source data and requirements. OP only referred to newline. I would recommend to try both and see which produces the best result. YMMV.

                  – David Moylan
                  Aug 12 '15 at 14:10













                • I tried using tr "n" "\n" before I posted this question and it just replaced the newline characters with backslashes. It seems to only turn a sequence into one character only.

                  – Melab
                  Aug 12 '15 at 20:12













                • @Melab correct. the 'tr' command will only do a single character replacement.

                  – David Moylan
                  Aug 15 '15 at 0:04











                • So then how does it help at all?

                  – Melab
                  Aug 17 '15 at 0:41



















                • Won't [rn] be cleaner?

                  – theoden
                  Aug 12 '15 at 14:03











                • I guess that all depends on the source data and requirements. OP only referred to newline. I would recommend to try both and see which produces the best result. YMMV.

                  – David Moylan
                  Aug 12 '15 at 14:10













                • I tried using tr "n" "\n" before I posted this question and it just replaced the newline characters with backslashes. It seems to only turn a sequence into one character only.

                  – Melab
                  Aug 12 '15 at 20:12













                • @Melab correct. the 'tr' command will only do a single character replacement.

                  – David Moylan
                  Aug 15 '15 at 0:04











                • So then how does it help at all?

                  – Melab
                  Aug 17 '15 at 0:41

















                Won't [rn] be cleaner?

                – theoden
                Aug 12 '15 at 14:03





                Won't [rn] be cleaner?

                – theoden
                Aug 12 '15 at 14:03













                I guess that all depends on the source data and requirements. OP only referred to newline. I would recommend to try both and see which produces the best result. YMMV.

                – David Moylan
                Aug 12 '15 at 14:10







                I guess that all depends on the source data and requirements. OP only referred to newline. I would recommend to try both and see which produces the best result. YMMV.

                – David Moylan
                Aug 12 '15 at 14:10















                I tried using tr "n" "\n" before I posted this question and it just replaced the newline characters with backslashes. It seems to only turn a sequence into one character only.

                – Melab
                Aug 12 '15 at 20:12







                I tried using tr "n" "\n" before I posted this question and it just replaced the newline characters with backslashes. It seems to only turn a sequence into one character only.

                – Melab
                Aug 12 '15 at 20:12















                @Melab correct. the 'tr' command will only do a single character replacement.

                – David Moylan
                Aug 15 '15 at 0:04





                @Melab correct. the 'tr' command will only do a single character replacement.

                – David Moylan
                Aug 15 '15 at 0:04













                So then how does it help at all?

                – Melab
                Aug 17 '15 at 0:41





                So then how does it help at all?

                – Melab
                Aug 17 '15 at 0:41











                0














                I'd like to extend David Moytan's solution:



                cat /etc/passwd | perl -e 'while(<>) { $_ =~ s/[rn]/__NEWLINE__/g; print "$_" }'





                share|improve this answer






























                  0














                  I'd like to extend David Moytan's solution:



                  cat /etc/passwd | perl -e 'while(<>) { $_ =~ s/[rn]/__NEWLINE__/g; print "$_" }'





                  share|improve this answer




























                    0












                    0








                    0







                    I'd like to extend David Moytan's solution:



                    cat /etc/passwd | perl -e 'while(<>) { $_ =~ s/[rn]/__NEWLINE__/g; print "$_" }'





                    share|improve this answer















                    I'd like to extend David Moytan's solution:



                    cat /etc/passwd | perl -e 'while(<>) { $_ =~ s/[rn]/__NEWLINE__/g; print "$_" }'






                    share|improve this answer














                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer








                    edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17









                    Community♦

                    1




                    1










                    answered Aug 12 '15 at 14:11









                    theodentheoden

                    544519




                    544519























                        0














                        I had this problem too.



                        You can use the a function to start every newline with the proper escape sequence, then pipe the resulting function into echo -n which suppresses newlines.



                        echo -n $(sed 'a
                        
\n');


                        Stick whatever you're sed-ing in the parentheses before the sed command.






                        share|improve this answer






























                          0














                          I had this problem too.



                          You can use the a function to start every newline with the proper escape sequence, then pipe the resulting function into echo -n which suppresses newlines.



                          echo -n $(sed 'a
                          
\n');


                          Stick whatever you're sed-ing in the parentheses before the sed command.






                          share|improve this answer




























                            0












                            0








                            0







                            I had this problem too.



                            You can use the a function to start every newline with the proper escape sequence, then pipe the resulting function into echo -n which suppresses newlines.



                            echo -n $(sed 'a
                            
\n');


                            Stick whatever you're sed-ing in the parentheses before the sed command.






                            share|improve this answer















                            I had this problem too.



                            You can use the a function to start every newline with the proper escape sequence, then pipe the resulting function into echo -n which suppresses newlines.



                            echo -n $(sed 'a
                            
\n');


                            Stick whatever you're sed-ing in the parentheses before the sed command.







                            share|improve this answer














                            share|improve this answer



                            share|improve this answer








                            edited Jan 18 '18 at 1:31









                            RockPaperLizard

                            3,231133672




                            3,231133672










                            answered Jan 18 '18 at 1:10









                            Kaeden WileKaeden Wile

                            12




                            12






























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