Hello monks,

I have the following script where I want replace a line in my groups file with a new line containing new group members.
Here is my code:
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $group = "sbo";
my $newstring = "sbo::18659:x0929,x1465,x1368,x5552;
my $backup = "/etc/group";
my $new = "/etc/group.tmp";

#back up group
`cp -f $backup $backup.4623`;

#fix group
open (GROUP, "<", $backup);
open (NEW, ">", $new);

while (<GROUP>){
        s/^$group/$newstring/;
        print NEW $_;
}
close GROUP;
close NEW;

print "\n";
print "\n";
system("cat $backup |grep $group");
#system("ls -lad $dirs");
print "\n";
system("hostname");
print "\n";

[download]

Here is the original string and the output data. As you can see the output substitutes the string but then adds the :: and everything after it again. I haven't been able to figure out how to escape the :: to make it quit doing this. Please shed some light. 
_DATA_
diff /etc/group /etc/group.tmp
104c104
< sbo::18659:x0929,x1465
---
> sbo::18659:x0929,x1465,x1368,x5552::18659:x0929,v1x1465,x1368,x5552
bash-2.05#

[download]
Thanks!

In reply to How do I escape a :: in s///? by xjlittle

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