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I'd like to write a script in sed to insert line to a file after all similar lines in the file. So I need to locate the last match for a pattern and insert immediately after it. It's very unlikely that this would be the last line in the file.

I've seen a number of solutions that employ multiple piped calls to sed or use other tools such as tac. These are not appropriate - I need a pure sed solution that can be embedded inside a larger script that makes other changes to the same file.

I've been searching for a while but suspect it isn't possible. I thought I'd ask on here before giving up!

In case specifics help explain, I want to locate the last "Include" directive in an Apache http.conf file and insert another one beneath the last one.

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  • can you explain what's bad with using tac (or just awk, for that matter)? why do you need pure sed only?
    – Philomath
    Jul 22, 2011 at 12:09
  • I was trying to achieve one script that I can apply all changes to the file in one go. Yes I could do different changes in different ways but I hoped to self-contain all alterations to one file in one script. There's nothing wrong with tac/awk/grep/sed combinations - I've used them many times. For this particular problem I wanted to get a single sed solution.
    – starfry
    Jul 22, 2011 at 12:22
  • When researching I found this but could never get it to work: info.birnamdesigns.com/wiki/Sed_insert_after_last_match
    – starfry
    Jul 24, 2011 at 14:22

2 Answers 2

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Technically, the script below (minimally tested) seems to do what you require. The principle is to store lines in the hold space; when an include line is encountered, print all accumulated lines and clear the hold space; at the end of the input, prepend new to the accumulated lines and print.

#n
H
$ {
  g
  s/^/new/
  p
  b
}
/include/ {
  g
  s/^\n//
  p
  s/.*//
  h
  b
}

This is unlikely to integrate well into an existing sed script. You're really stretching sed's abilities there.

An Apache configuration file fits easily into memory. Don't use a streaming editor for it, load it up in a decent tool like Perl or Python, or at least awk.

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  • I think you're right, this is pushing sed to its limits. I think it's a wonderful tool and like to see what it can do. Perhaps, for once, it isn't the right tool for the job.
    – starfry
    Jul 22, 2011 at 20:03
0

There is probably a real solution in sed that somebody else will pitch in, but a long time ago I solved the same scenario with this hack.

I placed a small comment "marker" at the point in the config file that I wanted new insert something with a script. Say:

#(Insert includes here)

Then you can use simple search and replace with that string as the search parameter and replace it with your new include PLUS the original comment line.

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  • yes I will probably do something like that if I can't get a full solution based on Sed. Hopefully someone will come up with that real solution...
    – starfry
    Jul 22, 2011 at 12:16

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