How can I easily deal with differences between BSD and GNU sed?

Asked Aug 05 '15 at 19:56

Active Aug 05 '15 at 20:29

Viewed 65 times

BSD and GNU sed have some small differences in what arguments they accept. I just learned that I have to use different command lines when using -i:

sed -i '' # BSD
sed -i    # GNU

I solved this with an IMO ugly hack involving storing the correct parameter in an environment variable.

Is there a nicer way to do that?

edited Aug 05 '15 at 20:29

muru

asked Aug 05 '15 at 19:56

daniel kullmann

1

Yeah. Don't use -i. It's just an ugly hack anyway. – mikeserv Aug 05 '15 at 20:01
1

You think so? I use it all the time.. – daniel kullmann Aug 05 '15 at 20:04
1

Yes. Of course it's called in-place editing but that's not at all what it is. Rather it's replace. It's riddled with problems where user/group permissions are concerned, fs quotas, timestamps, and what-have-you. Anyway, there is an answer to your question. – mikeserv Aug 05 '15 at 20:07

0 Answers0