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sed '5innn' myfile inserts first n as a literal n, and the other two nn as new lines, is it possible to insert all 3 new lines?

sed script to insert line after the last matching line in a fileSubstituting the first occurrence of a pattern in a line, for all the lines in a file with sedRemove the exact same matching lines with sedusing sed to modify all files in a directory and name the outputs accordinglyHere tag ignoring trailing newlinesReplace values in a variable and retain new lines in BASHUsing sed to replace the hexadecimal code for URL and to insert new SVG codes after SVG tag in all SVG filesgrep everything up until and including a patternsed command to insert between two strings that are returned from another sed commandExtra Backslash Required in First Appended Newline in sed

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}

1

I'm writing a Bash script and when inserting lines to a file using GNU sed, the first new line is inserted as a literal n, while the rest is inserted as new lines. The command is this:

sed '5innn' myfile

The output is this:

n

As seen, the first line in the output contains an "n" where it should be none, what am I missing about this behavior? is it possible to make sed insert only new lines with 'n'? Thank you.

bash sed gnu

share|improve this question

asked 49 mins ago

Juli TRJuli TR

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New contributor

Juli TR is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Add a sample of the file that you are working with and the expected output to your question.
  
  – Nasir Riley
  31 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

1

I'm writing a Bash script and when inserting lines to a file using GNU sed, the first new line is inserted as a literal n, while the rest is inserted as new lines. The command is this:

sed '5innn' myfile

The output is this:

n

As seen, the first line in the output contains an "n" where it should be none, what am I missing about this behavior? is it possible to make sed insert only new lines with 'n'? Thank you.

bash sed gnu

share|improve this question

asked 49 mins ago

Juli TRJuli TR

811 bronze badge

New contributor

Juli TR is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Add a sample of the file that you are working with and the expected output to your question.
  
  – Nasir Riley
  31 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

I'm writing a Bash script and when inserting lines to a file using GNU sed, the first new line is inserted as a literal n, while the rest is inserted as new lines. The command is this:

sed '5innn' myfile

The output is this:

n

As seen, the first line in the output contains an "n" where it should be none, what am I missing about this behavior? is it possible to make sed insert only new lines with 'n'? Thank you.

bash sed gnu

share|improve this question

asked 49 mins ago

Juli TRJuli TR

811 bronze badge

New contributor

Juli TR is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

sed '5innn' myfile

n

share|improve this question

asked 49 mins ago

Juli TRJuli TR

811 bronze badge

New contributor

Juli TR is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

asked 49 mins ago

Juli TRJuli TR

811 bronze badge

New contributor

Juli TR is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 49 mins ago

Juli TRJuli TR

811 bronze badge

New contributor

Juli TR is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 49 mins ago

Juli TRJuli TR

811 bronze badge

1 Answer
1

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1

The standard sed insertion is

5i

text here...

(including the backslash). GNU sed has an extension that accepts the text on the same line as the i command, but if there's a backslash after the i it's interpreted as ending the command as usual - though it still doesn't force you to move to a new line, either. You can use

5i\nnn

to do both together. This is not an escaped backslash, but two different kinds of backslash right next to each other. This behaviour doesn't seem to be documented, but is consistent across commands and versions.

---

You might find it clearer to use another GNU extension:

sed -e '5i' -e 'nnn'

with the command and text split across two -e arguments to avoid that ambiguity.

share|improve this answer

answered 40 mins ago

Michael HomerMichael Homer

54.1k99 gold badges151151 silver badges184184 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You actually don't need the third n. A new line is automatically added at the 5th line so only two of the n are needed. Three of them effectively adds four new lines.
  
  – Nasir Riley
  37 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  To be honest, I'm not really clear on how many are actually wanted - this will insert all three ns and result in four blank lines, which matches one part of the question and not the other. They can be removed (or added) as required to match expectations.
  
  – Michael Homer
  33 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It seems like only three new lines are wanted at the fifth line but I've asked the questionner to add the contents of the file and expected output so it's clearer. Your answer does work but that info may help to understand how it may need to be altered to get the exact output that's wanted.
  
  – Nasir Riley
  27 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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1

The standard sed insertion is

5i

text here...

(including the backslash). GNU sed has an extension that accepts the text on the same line as the i command, but if there's a backslash after the i it's interpreted as ending the command as usual - though it still doesn't force you to move to a new line, either. You can use

5i\nnn

to do both together. This is not an escaped backslash, but two different kinds of backslash right next to each other. This behaviour doesn't seem to be documented, but is consistent across commands and versions.

---

You might find it clearer to use another GNU extension:

sed -e '5i' -e 'nnn'

with the command and text split across two -e arguments to avoid that ambiguity.

share|improve this answer

answered 40 mins ago

Michael HomerMichael Homer

54.1k99 gold badges151151 silver badges184184 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You actually don't need the third n. A new line is automatically added at the 5th line so only two of the n are needed. Three of them effectively adds four new lines.
  
  – Nasir Riley
  37 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  To be honest, I'm not really clear on how many are actually wanted - this will insert all three ns and result in four blank lines, which matches one part of the question and not the other. They can be removed (or added) as required to match expectations.
  
  – Michael Homer
  33 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It seems like only three new lines are wanted at the fifth line but I've asked the questionner to add the contents of the file and expected output so it's clearer. Your answer does work but that info may help to understand how it may need to be altered to get the exact output that's wanted.
  
  – Nasir Riley
  27 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

1

The standard sed insertion is

5i

text here...

(including the backslash). GNU sed has an extension that accepts the text on the same line as the i command, but if there's a backslash after the i it's interpreted as ending the command as usual - though it still doesn't force you to move to a new line, either. You can use

5i\nnn

to do both together. This is not an escaped backslash, but two different kinds of backslash right next to each other. This behaviour doesn't seem to be documented, but is consistent across commands and versions.

---

You might find it clearer to use another GNU extension:

sed -e '5i' -e 'nnn'

with the command and text split across two -e arguments to avoid that ambiguity.

share|improve this answer

answered 40 mins ago

Michael HomerMichael Homer

54.1k99 gold badges151151 silver badges184184 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You actually don't need the third n. A new line is automatically added at the 5th line so only two of the n are needed. Three of them effectively adds four new lines.
  
  – Nasir Riley
  37 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  To be honest, I'm not really clear on how many are actually wanted - this will insert all three ns and result in four blank lines, which matches one part of the question and not the other. They can be removed (or added) as required to match expectations.
  
  – Michael Homer
  33 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It seems like only three new lines are wanted at the fifth line but I've asked the questionner to add the contents of the file and expected output so it's clearer. Your answer does work but that info may help to understand how it may need to be altered to get the exact output that's wanted.
  
  – Nasir Riley
  27 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

The standard sed insertion is

5i

text here...

(including the backslash). GNU sed has an extension that accepts the text on the same line as the i command, but if there's a backslash after the i it's interpreted as ending the command as usual - though it still doesn't force you to move to a new line, either. You can use

5i\nnn

to do both together. This is not an escaped backslash, but two different kinds of backslash right next to each other. This behaviour doesn't seem to be documented, but is consistent across commands and versions.

---

You might find it clearer to use another GNU extension:

sed -e '5i' -e 'nnn'

with the command and text split across two -e arguments to avoid that ambiguity.

share|improve this answer

answered 40 mins ago

Michael HomerMichael Homer

54.1k99 gold badges151151 silver badges184184 bronze badges

5i

text here...

5i\nnn

sed -e '5i' -e 'nnn'

share|improve this answer

answered 40 mins ago

Michael HomerMichael Homer

54.1k99 gold badges151151 silver badges184184 bronze badges

answered 40 mins ago

Michael HomerMichael Homer

54.1k99 gold badges151151 silver badges184184 bronze badges

answered 40 mins ago

Michael HomerMichael Homer

54.1k99 gold badges151151 silver badges184184 bronze badges