Appending a line to a file only if it does not already exist

Question

I need to add the following line to the end of a config file:

include \"/configs/projectname.conf\"

to a file called lighttpd.conf

Answer 1

Using sed: It will insert at the end of line. You can also pass in variables as usual of course.

grep -qxF "port=9033" $light.conf
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  sed -i "$ a port=9033" $light.conf
else
    echo "port=9033 already added"
fi

Using oneliner sed

grep -qxF "port=9033" $lightconf || sed -i "$ a port=9033" $lightconf

Using echo may not work under root, but will work like this. But it will not let you automate things if you are looking to do it since it might ask for password.

I had a problem when I was trying to edit from the root for a particular user. Just adding the $username before was a fix for me.

grep -qxF "port=9033" light.conf
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  sudo -u $user_name echo "port=9033" >> light.conf
else
    echo "already there"    
fi