sed replace content within double quotes

Question

I need to replace the versionName in a xml file from a shell script using sed.

Answer 1

Replace not-", like this:

sed -i .old '/android:versionName/ s/="[^"][^"]*"/="NEW VERSION NAME"/' AndroidManifest.xml

Answer 2

sed 's/\([[:blank:]]android:versionName="\)[^"]*"/\1Your New Value"/' YourFile

• assuming that all section that have android:versionName will be changed
• with GNU sed still better with replacing [[:blan:k]] by \(^\|[[:blank:]]\) (and a -i if direct modification avoiding temporary file)

Answer 3

Considering the nature of xml and the version number, it is actually very safe to use a simpler command:

sed -i '/versionName/s/".*"/"NEW VERSION NAME"/' AndroidManifest.xml

P.S. in my opinion, it is very important to be able to simplify your shell script based on specific circumstances and reasonable assumptions.