Question

I have a bash script that I use to setup a simple php script on my server. I am stuck with how to correctly change a variable with sed with the script. Here is what I have tried:

echo "Enter Portal Password:"
read PORTPASS;
sed -i 's/$ppass =".*"/$ppass ="$PORTPASS"/' includes/config.php

The above changes the variable in the config file but it only changes it to $PORTPASS it does not change it to what I input in the script.

I also tried this and it does change the $PORTPASS correctly, but it remove the " " around the variable in the file.

sed -i 's/$ppass ='".*"'/$ppass ='"$PORTPASS"';/' includes/config.php

Here is what I’m trying to change in the conf.php file: $ppass ="password";

Answer 1

Try:

sed -i "s/\$ppass =\".*\"/\$ppass =\"$PORTPASS\"/" includes/config.php

You have to use double quotes (") around the command so that the shell will evaluate $PORTPASS before passing it to sed, so then you have to “escape” all of the double quotes within the command.