Use a variable in a sed command

Question

I can\'t seem to use a variable in a sed command, for example:

sed \"24s/.*/\"$ct_tname\"/\" file1.sas > file2.sas

I want $ct_tnam

Answer 1

The problem is that when $ct_fname is substituted, sed sees extra / separators, so

sed "24s/.*/"$ct_tname"/" file1.sas > file2.sas

becomes

sed "24s/.*/"%let outputfile=/user/ct_ARGUMENT1.csv;"/" file1.sas > file2.sas

and you'll get a sed error because there are 5 / instead of the expected 3.

Instead, change your sed separators to an unused character like | or :, and either single or double quotes will work just fine:

sed '24s|.*|'$ct_tname'|' file1.sas > file2.sas
sed "24s|.*|"$ct_tname"|" file1.sas > file2.sas