GNU bug report logs - #73598
bug in sed Invalid preceding regular expression

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Package: sed;

Reported by: Peter Smulders <p.j.m.smulders <at> home.nl>

Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2024 13:00:03 UTC

Severity: normal

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Message #14 received at 73598 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Peter Smulders <p.j.m.smulders <at> home.nl>
To: 73598 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#73598: Acknowledgement (bug in sed Invalid preceding regular
 expression)
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2024 11:53:13 +0200
Some further observations regarding the behaviour of regular expressions 
in 'sed'

as noticed before  the following is not accepted

$ echo ****somestring | sed s/\*\*\*\*//
sed: -e expression #1, char 8: Invalid preceding regular expression

but the following does

$ echo ****somestring | sed s/\\*\\*\\*\\*//
somestring

However, even this does not work anymore if the command is surrounded by 
backquotes.

e.g.
$ name=`echo ****some string | sed s/\\*\\*\\*\\*//`
sed: -e expression #1, char 8: Invalid preceding regular expression

On the other hand the equivalent using $() is ok:
$ name=$(echo ****some string | sed s/\\*\\*\\*\\*//)
$ echo $name
some string


On 2-10-2024 16:50, Peter Smulders wrote:
> I think I know already what is the matter. For to work properly double 
> escapes are needed, i.e.
>
>  echo ****some string | sed s/\\*\\*\\*\\*//
>
> But I still find it strange ...
>
> On 2-10-2024 15:00, GNU bug Tracking System wrote:
>> Thank you for filing a new bug report with debbugs.gnu.org.
>>
>> This is an automatically generated reply to let you know your message
>> has been received.
>>
>> Your message is being forwarded to the package maintainers and other
>> interested parties for their attention; they will reply in due course.
>>
>> Your message has been sent to the package maintainer(s):
>> bug-sed <at> gnu.org
>>
>> If you wish to submit further information on this problem, please
>> send it to 73598 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.
>>
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>>




This bug report was last modified 247 days ago.

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