Question

I’m trying to replace an old function call with an updated function.

I’m looking for something like this:

$myvar = myclass::getmyvar();

However the tabs / spacing can vary wildly due to code formatting. How can I match for any number of tabs or spaces between the $myvar and the = myclass::getmyvar();?

I’ve tried variations of something like this:

$myvar[* \t]=[* ]myclass::getmyvar();

without success.

I’d like to pass it to a statement like the following:

grep -rl '$myvar[* \t]=[* ]myclass::getmyvar();' ./ | xargs sed -i 's/$myvar[* \t]=[* ]myclass::myvar();/$myvar = mynewclass::myvar();/g'

Is that the proper syntax, or should I be using egrep?

Answer 1

I believe your problem lies with the location of your * and not escaping $, ( and ). This will yield better results.

\$myvar[ \t]*=[ ]*myclass::getmyvar\(\);

In addition, you can update it to match any whitespace using \s instead of character classes.

\$myvar\s*=\s*myclass::getmyvar\(\);