[SOLVED] With sed, delete only a certain matched address range

Issue

The following text has 2 address ranges that will be matched using sed -n '/#/,/\$/p':

foo
#bar
foo
$
foobar
#foo
$bar
foobar

How can I delete a specific match only (1st, 2nd...)? Below should be the output for deleting 2nd match only:

foo
#bar
foo
$
foobar
foobar

Solution

This might work for you (GNU sed):

sed -E '/#/{x;s/^/x/;x};/#/,/\$/{x;/^x{2}$/{x;d};x}' file

Set up a counter in the hold space and use it to determine which range to delete.

This has the added advantage of being able to delete a range of ranges e.g.

sed -E '/#/{x;s/^/x/;x};/#/,/\$/{x;/^x{2,3}$/{x;d};x}' file

This will delete the second and third ranges.

Answered By - potong

Answer Checked By - Gilberto Lyons (WPSolving Admin)