[SOLVED] Remove matching lines from yaml file

Issue

I have a yaml file:

version: xxx
description: xxx
inspec_version: "~> 4"
depends:
- name: yyy
  url: random-url
supports:
- platform: aws

How can I remove this from the file?

depends:
- name: yyy
  url: random-url

so the file will look like:

version: xxx
description: xxx
inspec_version: "~> 4"
supports:
- platform: aws

The name and url value can be random but it will always be depends: name, url.

I tried this with sed for the first line but it didn't work:

 sed -i '^depends:' test.yml   

Solution

Use this (I've removed the -i, and you can add it back when you're happy with the result):

sed '/^depends:/{N;N;d}' test.yml   

Details:

• /^depends:/ matches the first of the three lines
• {…} goups the commands to be executed when the above pattern matched
• ; separates successive commands
• N appends the following line to the current pattern space (the line you were editing when the match occurred); this happens twice, resulting in the pattern space holding the line matching the pattern, plus the two following lines
• d deletes the pattern space

Answered By - Enlico

Answer Checked By - Terry (WPSolving Volunteer)