Escaping token replace values for sed.

README.md

Escaping token replace values for sed

In this case replacement is passed in $1. Will replace TOKEN_NAME in given /path/to/my/templatefile.txt.

The magic is sed --regexp-extended 's/[\/&]/\\&/g' - ensures replace value is not tripped up in call to sed.

#!/bin/bash -e

tokenReplace=$1

cat /path/to/my/templatefile.txt | \
	sed --regexp-extended "s/TOKEN_NAME/$(echo "$tokenReplace" | sed --regexp-extended 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')/" \
	>/path/to/output.txt

Reference

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/407523/escape-a-string-for-a-sed-replace-pattern/2705678#2705678