[SOLVED] how to insert line break after a specific string?

Issue

I have a file with the following text, I want to make a line break, after the S. character

i have this

1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.1900-01-01|S.1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.

i want

1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.

i tried this

$ sed 's/S./\n/g' file.csv > file2.csv

Solution

With any sed that accepts \n as meaning "newline":

$ sed 's/S\./&\n/g' file
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.

or in bash for $'\n' to get a newline char:

$ sed 's/S\./&\'$'\n''/g' file
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.

or portably with any sed in any shell:

$ sed 's/S\./&\
/g' file
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.

Note that the output will end in a blank line since the script adds a newline after every S. as requested. If you actually only want to add a newline after every S. mid-line then that'd be:

$ sed 's/\(S\.\)\(.\)/\1\n\2/g' file
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.
1900-01-01 00:00:00|1|S|S|S|S.

Answered By - Ed Morton

Answer Checked By - Gilberto Lyons (WPSolving Admin)