change string in file between two strings with character X [duplicate]

Answer 1

Try this python script:

$ cat script.py
#!/usr/bin/python
import re
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
soup = BeautifulSoup(open('allcases'), features="xml")
for tag in soup.findAll('Name'):
    for name in 'Jason Ignacio', 'Jason', 'Jim':
        tag.string =  re.sub(r'\b%s\b' % name, len(name)*'X', tag.string)
print(str(soup))

This code is compatible with either python2 or python3.

To make it work, you may need to install the BeautifulSoup module. On a debian-like system:

apt-get install python-bs4

Or, for python3:

apt-get install python3-bs4

Example

Let's consider this input file:

$ cat cases

Jason
 Jason 
Jason
 Jim
Jim
Jim


     Jim
       
 Jason   Ignacio 
 Jason Ignacio 

Let's run our script and observe the output:

$ python script.py


Jason
 XXXXX 
Jason
XXX
Jim
XXX


     XXX
       
 XXXXX   Ignacio 
 XXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Note that the names in

tags are left alone. The code only changes the names in tags.

Also, as per the design, Jim, Jason, and Jason Ignacio are changed to X's but other names are left alone. Even Ignacio, if it appears without an adjacent Jason, is left alone.