Adding <!-- in a tag of an xml file using shell [duplicate]

Question

This question already has an answer here:

Replace Tag of and xml file after pattern matching using shell (1 answer)

Closed 4 years ago.

My input file is below

INPUT FILE

<ReconSummary>
<entryName>Total Deep</entryName>
<Code>777</Code>
<License>L</License>
<Tran>H20</Tran>
<job>1234</job>
</ReconSummary>
<ReconSummary>
<entryName>Total Saurav</entryName>
<Code>666</Code>
<License>L</License>
<Tran>H20</Tran>
<job>1234</job>
</ReconSummary>

I have code which looks like

LineNum=`grep -n "Deep" deep.xml | cut -d: -f 1 | awk -F '[\t]' '{$NF = $NF -1;}1'`
sed -i "/$LineNum/s/^/<!--/" deep.xml

What i need is:- i want to go to the line number which i am getting with LineNum variable and i want to add <!-- before an xml tag. So that my sample output looks like below

<!--<ReconSummary>
<entryName>Total Deep</entryName>
<Code>777</Code>
<License>L</License>
<Tran>H20</Tran>
<job>1234</job>
</ReconSummary>
<ReconSummary>
<entryName>Total Saurav</entryName>
<Code>666</Code>
<License>L</License>
<Tran>H20</Tran>
<job>1234</job>
</ReconSummary>

I am not able to do that. Can anyone tell what mistake i am doing in the code?

• DEEP MUKHERJEE: It is using XML parsing tool like xmlstarlet tool. But i want my script with shell in unix
• fra-san: @DEEPMUKHERJEE Since this question is essentially asking for the same thing as your previous one, it will likely be closed as a duplicate of it. If you are not satisfied with the answer(s) you already have, please explain why in comments to those answers and, possibly, edit your original question to make your requirements more clear.

Answer 1

You're inherently taking the wrong approach to handling XML files: use an XML parsing tool.

Nevertheless, for this specific problem: reverse the lines of the file; add the required prefix to the line after "Deep"; and re-reverse the output

tac file.xml | sed '/Deep/ {n; s/^/<!--/}' | tac

To save the result back into the original file, do one of:

sudo apt install moreutils
tac file.xml | ... | sponge file.xml

or

tmp=$(mktemp)
tac file.xml | ... > "$tmp" && mv "$tmp" file.xml

---

and as you are trying to comment the "Deep" paragraphs, use perl

perl -00 -lpe '$_ = "<!-- $_ -->" if /Deep/' file.xml