[SOLVED] What do I miss in this sed Expression?

Issue

I'd like to replace the database server of a horde config file from "localhost" to a remote server (I use "database.contoso.com" as a placeholder). The file in question is /var/www/horde/config/conf.php. The line in the file looks like this:

$conf['sql']['hostspec'] = 'localhost';

Now I have created a sed line like so:

sed s/\$conf\[\'sql\'\]\[\'hostspec\'\]\ \=\ \'localhost\'\;/\$conf\[\'sql\'\]\[\
'hostspec\'\]\ \=\ \'database\.contoso\.com\'\;/ /var/www/horde/config/conf.php

But for whatever reason, it does not work -I spare out the -i option for later. While trying to figure out, why it does not work, I did this:

echo "\$conf['sql']['hostspec'] = 'localhost';"|sed s/\$conf\[\'sql\'\]\[\'hostspec\'\]\ \=\ \'localhost\'\;/\$conf\[\'sql\'\]\[\'hostspec\'\]\ \=\ \'database\.contoso\.com\'\;/

which returns this:

$conf['sql']['hostspec'] = 'localhost';

but it should return:

$conf['sql']['hostspec'] = 'database.contoso.com';

What am I missing?

Solution

From Escape a string for a sed replace pattern in this case it would work:

KEYWORD="\$conf['sql']['hostspec'] = 'localhost';"
REPLACE="\$conf['sql']['hostspec'] = 'database.contoso.com';"
ESCAPED_REPLACE=$(printf '%s\n' "$REPLACE" | sed -e 's/[\/&]/\\&/g')
ESCAPED_KEYWORD=$(printf '%s\n' "$KEYWORD" | sed -e 's/[]\/$*.^[]/\\&/g');
sed "s/$ESCAPED_KEYWORD/$ESCAPED_REPLACE/"

Answered By - KamilCuk

Answer Checked By - Mary Flores (WPSolving Volunteer)