How do I fix a malformed line from my sources.list?

Question

I have a Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS, i neaad to install Korn sh package but a problem occured when i try to launch the following command: sudo apt-get update before installing the ksh package.

Here is the result of the command:

#sudo apt-get update
E: Malformed entry 3 in list file /etc/apt/sources.list (URI parse)
E: The list of sources could not be read.

The contents of the file /etc/apt/sources.list:

cat /etc/apt/sources.list
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb  focal main restricted
# deb-src  focal main restricted
Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
distribution.
deb  focal-updates main restricted
deb-src  focal-updates main restricted
N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb  focal universe
deb-src  focal universe
deb  focal-updates universe
deb-src  focal-updates universe

Could you please tell me where is the line 3 that is issued and help me to fix the problem on it please?

may be the content of the file is not well readable with this format: — Aouatif Bouka, Sep 10 '21 at 16:06
There's more wrong here than just line 3. ALL of the URLs are missing. Did you manually edit this file? — heynnema, Sep 10 '21 at 16:42
The question is different, but the solution is the same: How do I restore the default repositories?. Looks to me like you should start over with a fresh set of default sources. I don't know how you managed to mangle your sources.list file like that, but try to avoid it next time. — user535733, Sep 10 '21 at 16:43

heynnema · Answer 1 · 2021-09-10T19:47:25.627

Replacement for /etc/apt/sources.list...

#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 20.04 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20200423)]/ focal main restricted
See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted
Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted
N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe
N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse
N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
'partner' repository.
This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal partner
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security multiverse
This system was installed using small removable media
(e.g. netinst, live or single CD). The matching "deb cdrom"
entries were disabled at the end of the installation process.
For information about how to configure apt package sources,
see the sources.list(5) manual.

hi, yes i found an other file /etc/apt/sources.list.old that contain all of the URLs, i used it and it works fine. — Aouatif Bouka, Sep 13 '21 at 13:16

How do I fix a malformed line from my sources.list?

Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the

distribution.

deb-src focal-updates main restricted

N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu

team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any

review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.

deb-src focal universe

deb-src focal-updates universe

1 Answers1

See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to

newer versions of the distribution.

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted

Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the

distribution.

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted

N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu

team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any

review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe

N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu

team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to

your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in

multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu

security team.

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse

N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as

extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes

newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.

Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review

or updates from the Ubuntu security team.

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse

Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's

'partner' repository.

This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the

respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.

deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal partner

deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main restricted

deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe

deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security multiverse

This system was installed using small removable media

(e.g. netinst, live or single CD). The matching "deb cdrom"

entries were disabled at the end of the installation process.

For information about how to configure apt package sources,

see the sources.list(5) manual.