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I'm trying to replace the following string with null/nothing using sed:

(env "MyValue")

I've tried a bunch of escapes like this but can't get it to work,

sed -i -e "s|"\(\env \"\MyValue\"\\)\"|""|g" ./myFile

Any sed gods here that can direct me? I cannot seem (with many many different attempts, to get sed to remove the above string from my files.

Thanks!

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It's much easier if you enclose sed script in single quotes:

$ cat myFile abc (env "MyValue") def $ sed -i 's/(env "MyValue")//g' myFile $ cat myFile abc def
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  • Thanks that's perfect! I will accept the answer in 8 mins when I can... can you suggest somewhere I can learn sed that's a good read? I don't want to suck with it anymore... Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 8:59
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    You say you're on Linux so you most probably use GNU sed - read its manual, it's short gnu.org/software/sed/manual. Additionally, since sed is most commonly used in shell scripts and you come across issues such as this one you should read your shell manual. Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 9:01
  • I just read that when using double quotes, your string is going to be interpreted by the shell... got it thanks again Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 9:02
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    @Woodstock I like this one: Grymoire - please note: in your original try, you escaped the parentheses \( -> Actually escaping them makes them special for grouping, while NOT escaping them just matches the character. Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 9:02
  • note that if you run that script in a file in which the subject of the regexp is alone on the line sed will replace it with an empty line. Commented Feb 27, 2021 at 23:07

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