Append line to /etc/hosts file with shell script

Question

I have a new Ubuntu 12.04 VPS. I am trying to write a setup script that completes an entire LAMP installation. Where I am having trouble is appending a line to the /etc/ho

Answer 1

Make sure to use the -i option of sed.

-i[SUFFIX], --in-place[=SUFFIX]
  edit files in place (makes backup if extension supplied)

sed -i "2i192.241.xx.xx  venus.example.com venus" /etc/hosts

Otherwise,

echo "192.241.xx.xx  venus.example.com venus" >> /etc/hosts

would append the line at the end of the file, which could work as you expect.