Sed: Insert a Line in a Certain Position

Add a line in a specific position with Linux and output to the same file?

The only way to do this is to write to a second file, then replace the original. You can only append to an arbitrary file; you cannot insert into the middle of one.

t=$(mktemp)
sed '3iline 3' file.txt > "$t" && mv "$t" file.txt

If your version of sed supports it, you can use the -i option to automate the handling of the temporary file.

sed -i '3iline 3' file.txt  # GNU
sed -i "" '3iline 3 ' file.txt  # BSD sed requires an argument for -i

Bash: Inserting a line in a file at a specific location

If you want to add a line after a specific string match:

$ awk '/master.mplayer.com/ { print; print "new line"; next }1' foo.input
ServerActors=IpServer.UdpServerUplink MasterServerAddress=unreal.epicgames.com MasterServerPort=27900
ServerActors=IpServer.UdpServerUplink MasterServerAddress=master0.gamespy.com MasterServerPort=27900
ServerActors=IpServer.UdpServerUplink MasterServerAddress=master.mplayer.com MasterServerPort=27900
new line
ServerActors=UWeb.WebServer

Insert line after match using sed

Try doing this using GNU sed:

sed '/CLIENTSCRIPT="foo"/a CLIENTSCRIPT2="hello"' file

if you want to substitute in-place, use

sed -i '/CLIENTSCRIPT="foo"/a CLIENTSCRIPT2="hello"' file

Output

CLIENTSCRIPT="foo"
CLIENTSCRIPT2="hello"
CLIENTFILE="bar"

Doc

• see sed doc and search \a (append)

sed insert line with spaces to a specific line

You can escape the space character, for example to add 2 spaces:

sed -i "${line} i \ \ ${text}" $file

Or you can do it in the definition of your text variable:

text="\ \ hello world"

Simple way to insert line to particular position in file

awk 'f==1{print last}{last=$0;f=1}END{print "NEW WORD\n"$0}' file 

sed/awk Insert lines in specific place in file

Try the following simple sed command (GNU sed)

sed 's@</body>@\t<!-- EX -->\n\t<A href="ex/live/current/index.html" >EX Live</A> \n\t<A href="ex/live/" >(All months)</A><br>\n</body>@'

No need to use / as delimiter, it can be what you want instead, here we have the separator @

A PORTABLE SOLUTION
(tested on Solaris 11, FreeBSD 8.0 and Archlinux)

sed 's@</body>@  <!-- EX -->\
        <A href="ex/live/current/index.html" >EX Live</A> \
        <A href="ex/live/" >(All months)</A><br>\
</body>@' file.html

How to add text with sed at the end-of-line minus 1 position

sed "/^ *resourceFilters: '/s/'$/[*,test,*]'/" your_file

• I've double quoted the Sed command so that I can use single quotes in it;
• /^resourceFilters: '/ makes the following substitution command only act on lines starting with resourceFilters: ';
• s/'$/[*,test,*]'/ is the substitution command which matches ' at end of line ($), and substitutes [*, test,*]' to it, effectively inserting [*,test,*] before the '.

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