Regular Expression delimiters

[Larry W. Virden]

Using sed as a simple example of a complex situation, how would one code
a shell program to invoke sed so that the arguments passed would always be
valid ?  That is, lets say that I wanted to write a script which would read
the arguments to sed in from the keyboard.  Also, assume that I was dealing
with users who wouldnt know sed from a hole in the ground ;-0.  I want
to use delimiters around the shell variable containing their input which
wont clash:

sed -e /$ans/ filename

doesnt work - what if there are multiple /'s in the user's answer.

Using ^, !, etc - basically a hard coded printable character - have the
same problems.  

Do folks just ignore this possibility, or is there a standard trick to this?

-- 
Larry W. Virden	 674 Falls Place, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 (614) 864-8817
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