Can perl specify lines to change?

[peterv6]

I'm used to using sed to change a range of lines in a file. I've found that I like to use Perl better, but I haven't been able to figure out a way to specify a range of lines to change.

In sed I can do:

sed -i '1,10 s/before/after' filename

and that will change the text only on lines 1 - 10 inclusive.

Is there a way to do the same thing in Perl? To change all lines, I'd just do:

perl -pe 's!before!after!' -i filename

Thanks....

PETERV
Syracuse, NY &
Boston, MA

 

[KevinADC]

You could use Tie::File or incorporate the input record line number variable "$." into your perl one-liner to find the range of line numbers you want to change. But as far as I know there is no built-in range argument with perl like sed apparently has.

------------------------------------------
- Kevin, perl coder unexceptional!

 

[MillerH]

Kevin is dead on in this. Here is the equivalent as a perl 1 liner.

perl -pe '$. < 11 && s!before!after!' -i filename

- Miller

 

[KevinADC]

Our long lost perl compatriot makes a surprise visit. Hope all is well in Millerland.

------------------------------------------
- Kevin, perl coder unexceptional!

 

[MillerH]

Aloha mates

Aye, I miss y'all guys.

Just dropped by for a moment though. Back to surfing for now. Vacation never lasts as long as you'd like.

- Miller

 

[brigmar]

You can specify the range of lines to change using the .. operator.

For my windows installation:

perl -pe "s!before!after! if 1 .. 10" -i.bak filename

If either of the operands of the .. operator are constant, they are converted to integers and matched against $.