Lab #11 - The sed Utility

This lab is considered optional. If you perform this lab and submit it to your instructor, you will get a BONUS lab mark.
View the lab submission instructions at the end of this lab...

***This Lab is to be done individually.***

  1. Log in to your matrix account or any available bash shell.


  2. In your home directory, create a subdirectory named Lab11



  3. Make Lab11 your working directory and remain there for the rest of this Lab. Place a copy of /etc/passwd and /etc/group in your current directory.



    4.
  4. Please note that, rather than using a pattern in sed (/pattern/), you can also state a line number or a range of line numbers. Also remember that sed's default behavior is to print all lines, not just matching ones. With that in mind, using sed or any other command necessary:
    1. Display lines 5 through 15 of passwd.
    2. Display the last 3 lines of group.
    3. Display the last line of passwd. How many ways can this be done with and without sed?

  1. Try the following (in your Lab11 directory):
        sed s/false/$(tput smso)FAKE$(tput rmso)/g passwd

  1. Now try quoting the substitution pattern (single quotes) like you normally would.

  1. What did the first one do (#5)? (Look up tput)

  1. Why did the second one (#6) do what it did?

  1. If ^ means beginning of line and $ means end of line, how could you remove blank lines from a file? Test it using one of your shell scripts.

  1. Print all lines from passwd EXCEPT lines 1 through 20.


    11. Write the result of #5 to a file named fake.pass



    12. Append the comment "# this is not a real shell" below all instances of the "FAKE" shell  in fake.pass and write it to STDOUT.



    13. Insert the comment "# Oh mighty root. I am not worthy!" above root's record in fake.pass



    14. Using vi, create a file called lab11.ans and copy in there the answers to questions 4, 7-11, and 13.
          Precede each answer with the number of the question followed by a period, e. g.   4. Your Answer to question #4.


Submit your Lab #11:

1. Make certain that you are currently located in the lab11 directory
2. Issue the following Bash Shell script to check and if correct, send e-mail to your OPS435 professor (works only for Murray Saul's sections):

/home/murray.saul/labs/submit-lab11.bash

This shell script should either indicate problems and hints for you to correct your shell script, or indicate that your lab #11 submission was successful. If your lab was successfully submitted, both you and your OPS435 professor (Murray Saul) should have received an e-mail message.

Note: Keep this e-mail message for the remainder of the semester as date and time stamp proof that you submitted the lab in case there is a discrepancy with your OPS435 lab grade...