Edit file from tty1 terminal

Question

I want to set the RUN to yes in the /etc/default/saned, as mentioned in this answer.

Here is a snippet of the file :

# Defaults for the saned initscript, from sane-utils

# Set to yes to start saned
RUN=no

# Set to the user saned should run as
RUN_AS_USER=saned

How can I edit the saned file from within the tty1 terminal?

heemayl · Answer 1 · 2015-07-15T05:19:39.963

6

Open the TTY1 (Ctl + Alt + F1 ) and run this sed command :

sed -i '/^RUN=no$/s/no$/yes/' /etc/default/saned

/^RUN=no$/ will match the line RUN=no
On that line we are substituting no with yes by s/no$/yes/
-i option is to edit the file in place.

Test :

    $ sed '/^RUN=no$/s/no$/yes/' /etc/default/saned

    # Defaults for the saned initscript, from sane-utils

    # Set to yes to start saned
    RUN=yes

    # Set to the user saned should run as
    RUN_AS_USER=saned

edited Jul 15 '15 at 05:19

answered Jul 15 '15 at 05:13

heemayl

91,753

Ok, @heemayl we have a sed version, therefore we need a perl version also =) – A.B. Jul 15 '15 at 07:11
@A.B. perl -i -pe 's/no/yes/ if /^RUN=no$/' /etc/default/saned should do it :) – Mark K Cowan Jul 15 '15 at 13:45
@MarkKCowan always done since 6 hours, see my answer. ;) – A.B. Jul 15 '15 at 13:47

A.B. · Answer 2 · 2015-07-15T07:18:03.373

Switch to tty1 with Ctrl+Alt+F1 and login.

Edit the file with

sudo nano /etc/default/saned

Ctrl+O for save and Ctrl+X to leave the editor.

Or use the short command below …

_{Ok, @heemayl we have a sed version, therefore we need a perl version also =)}

sudo perl -i -pe 's/(^RUN=)no/$1yes/' /etc/default/saned

Example

The starting situation

% cat /etc/default/saned
# Defaults for the saned initscript, from sane-utils

# Set to yes to start saned
RUN=no

# Set to the user saned should run as
RUN_AS_USER=saned
aboettger-VirtualBox% perl -pe 's/(^RUN=)no/$1yes/' /etc/default/saned 
# Defaults for the saned initscript, from sane-utils

# Set to yes to start saned
RUN=no

# Set to the user saned should run as
RUN_AS_USER=saned

The dry run

% sudo perl -pe 's/(^RUN=)no/$1yes/' /etc/default/saned 
# Defaults for the saned initscript, from sane-utils

# Set to yes to start saned
RUN=yes

# Set to the user saned should run as
RUN_AS_USER=saned
aboettger-VirtualBox% perl -pe 's/(^RUN=)no/$1yes/' /etc/default/saned 
# Defaults for the saned initscript, from sane-utils

# Set to yes to start saned
RUN=yes

# Set to the user saned should run as
RUN_AS_USER=saned

The replacement

% sudo perl -i -pe 's/(^RUN=)no/$1yes/' /etc/default/saned

The final situation

% cat /etc/default/saned                                  
# Defaults for the saned initscript, from sane-utils

# Set to yes to start saned
RUN=yes

# Set to the user saned should run as
RUN_AS_USER=saned
aboettger-VirtualBox% perl -pe 's/(^RUN=)no/$1yes/' /etc/default/saned 
# Defaults for the saned initscript, from sane-utils

# Set to yes to start saned
RUN=yes

# Set to the user saned should run as
RUN_AS_USER=saned

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 15 '15 at 07:48

Indeed you just need to use one of the text-based editors, and lucky you can find many which is installed by default.

The most known/used text based editors are:

nano(the easiest), Learn to use
Vi(Traditional Linux editor), Learn to use
pico(indeed it's just a symlink to nano)

and sure you can install tons of other text-based editors.

Now to do what you want you just need to open the file /etc/default/saned with one of your text-based editors, and then edit RUn to yes save and close.

Edit file from tty1 terminal

3 Answers3