Question

Script performs two things

1.Enables the user input a file name

2.Enables the user to input a line number to view the content

echo "Enter the file name"
read fname
  find / -name "$fname" > /tmp/newone.txt

if test $? -eq 0
then
 {
  echo "File found"
  echo "The no of line in the file $fname is `cat /tmp/newone.txt | wc|awk '{pri
nt $1}'`"
  echo  "Enter the line no"
  read  lcnt
  sed '"$lcnt" p' "$fname"
 }
else
 {
   echo "File not found"
 }
fi

Issue
1.Getting error in the sed part

Error message “sed: -e expression #1, char 3: extra characters after command”

how to rectify it ?

2.Can i redirect the output of ‘find’ to a variable

For example

$flloc =/tmp/newone.txt

so i will be able to use ‘$flloc’ instead of the absolute path

Answer 1

1) This is how you’d go about using your variable in the sed command:

echo "Line no: "
read lcnt

sed -n "$lcnt p" $fname

What was wrong with your original expression is that bash variables aren’t interpreted when you use single quotes. Example:

lcnt=5

# prints $lcnt
echo '$lcnt'

# prints 5
echo "$lcnt"

2) To store your find output to a variable, simply do this:

floc=`find / -name $fname` # Here I'm using backticks, not single quotes.