Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!helios!bcm!convex!news
From: tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell
Subject: Re: sed 's/foobar/$string/g'.... can't do this?
Message-ID: <1991Feb01.000557.3532@convex.com>
Date: 1 Feb 91 00:05:57 GMT
References: <2586@root44.co.uk> <8872@star.cs.vu.nl> <2589@root44.co.uk>
Sender: news@convex.com (news access account)
Reply-To: tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen)
Distribution: comp
Organization: CONVEX Software Development, Richardson, TX
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Nntp-Posting-Host: pixel.convex.com

From the keyboard of gwc@root.co.uk (Geoff Clare):
:})
:})Xstring=`sed 's/[\/&\\]/\\&/g' <<!
:})$string
:})!
:})`
:})sed 's/foobar/'"$Xstring"'/g'
:
:}Did you actually try your solution?  I guess not.
:
:}The following works:
:
:}Xstring=`sed 's/[\/&\\\\]/\\\\&/g' <<!
:}$string
:}!
:}`

Gotta love these languages where the backslashes just keep building
until almost that's all there is.  Reminds me of writing troff macros.
Just keep adding backslashes until it works. :-)

--tom
--
"Hey, did you hear Stallman has replaced /vmunix with /vmunix.el?  Now
 he can finally have the whole O/S built-in to his editor like he
 always wanted!" --me (Tom Christiansen <tchrist@convex.com>)