Delete \n characters from line range in text file

Question

Let\'s say we have a text file with 1000 lines.

How can we delete new line characters from line 20 to 500 (replace them with space for example)?

My try:

Answer 1

Using a perl one-liner to strip the newline:

perl -i -pe 'chomp if 20..500' file

Or to replace it with a space:

perl -i -pe 's/\R/ / if 20..500' file

Explanation:

Switches:

• -i: Edit <> files in place (makes backup if extension supplied)
• -p: Creates a while(<>){...; print} loop for each “line” in your input file.
• -e: Tells perl to execute the code on command line.

Code:

• chomp: Remove new line
• 20 .. 500: if Range operator .. is between line numbers 20 to 500