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Add a line "allow = alaw" before a string "nat = no" in a file sip.conf or any text based file. If "allow = alaw" already exists before "nat = no" it should not be added.

File contents:

secret =
nat = no
progressinband = yes

allow = ulaw
allow = alaw
nat = no
progressinband = yes

disallow = all
allow = ulaw
nat = no
progressinband = yes

My attempt:

awk '/nat = no/ { if(lastLine == "allow = alaw") { print } } { lastLine = $0 }' sip.conf
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3
  • What have you tried to do to solve the problem yourself? – Cyrus Jul 25 '20 at 10:34
  • I tried awk to grep the last line match, but how to add a line using sed missing and for loop will be required . ``` awk '/nat = no/ { if(lastLine == "allow = alaw") { print } } { lastLine = $0 }' sip.conf ``` – addi jeo Jul 25 '20 at 10:36
  • @addijeo Please add your attempts to the question when asking. I have edited your question to include it. Also, please try to provide a minimal, complete example with expected input and output. Your sample file is too large. – Quasímodo Jul 25 '20 at 11:50
1
awk -v add="allow = alaw" '/^nat = no$/&&lastLine!=add{print add}{lastLine=$0}1' sip.conf
  • -v add="allow = alaw" sets an variable add to awk.
  • /^nat = no$/&&lastLine!=add checks if current line is exactly "nat = no" and if the last line is not the line we want to add, "allow = alaw". If true,
    • {print add} prints the line to be added.
  • {lastLine=$0} saves the current line value, only in the next cycle it will be used.
  • 1 prints the current line.

On a minimal example sip.conf:

secret =
nat = no
progressinband = yes

allow = ulaw
allow = alaw
nat = no
progressinband = yes

disallow = all
allow = ulaw
nat = no
progressinband = yes

$ awk -v add="allow = alaw" '/^nat = no$/&&lastLine!=add{print add}{lastLine=$0}1' sip.conf > out
$ mv out sip.conf
$ cat sip.conf
secret =
allow = alaw
nat = no
progressinband = yes

allow = ulaw
allow = alaw
nat = no
progressinband = yes

disallow = all
allow = ulaw
allow = alaw
nat = no
progressinband = yes
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6
  • Thanks for the help , by this cmd i'm able to print the desired output but its not getting saved/write in sip.conf. Please help in it – addi jeo Jul 25 '20 at 13:33
  • using "gawk -i inplace " able to write into file , but awk version should be 4.1.0 or later. gawk -i inplace -v add="allow = alaw" '/nat = no/{if(lastLine!=add){print add}}{lastLine=$0}1' sip.conf Thank you Quasímodo – addi jeo Jul 25 '20 at 15:01
  • 1
    Thanks @EdMorton, I have made the regex strict. Addijeo, to apply the modifications in the file, the cleanest way is to redirect the output to a temporary file and then overwrite the original file as I have done in the example (see edit). This requires no extension to awk such as the inplace option of GNU awk. – Quasímodo Jul 25 '20 at 16:39
  • ``` [general] allow = ulaw nat = no [providertrunk0] ;allow = alaw nat = no secret = nat = no progressinband = yes allow = ulaw allow = alaw nat = no ``` ``` I have one doubt, if I want to exclude the whole process for [general] and [providertrunk0] section, and apply in whole file then I am using '/general/,/providertrunk0/{next}' , but its not giving correct output. My command is as below ' awk -v add="allow = alaw" '/general/,/providertrunk0/{next} /^nat = no$/&&lastLine!=add{print add}{lastLine=$0}1' sip.conf ' ``` – addi jeo Jul 27 '20 at 15:13
  • @addijeo Sorry I cannot understand it, the comments mangle the line breaks so it is very difficult to read your question. Feel free to post a new question if you are stuck, though! – Quasímodo Jul 28 '20 at 0:24

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