SED

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

-n, --quiet, --silent

suppress automatic printing of pattern space

-e script, --expression=script

add the script to the commands to be executed

-f script-file, --file=script-file

add the contents of script-file to the commands to be executed

--follow-symlinks

follow symlinks when processing in place

-i[SUFFIX], --in-place[=SUFFIX]

edit files in place (makes backup if SUFFIX supplied)

-l N, --line-length=N

specify the desired line-wrap length for the `l' command

--posix

disable all GNU extensions.

-r, --regexp-extended

use extended regular expressions in the script.

-s, --separate

consider files as separate rather than as a single continuous long stream.

-u, --unbuffered

load minimal amounts of data from the input files and flush the output buffers more often

-z, --null-data

separate lines by NUL characters

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

If no -e, --expression, -f, or --file option is given, then the first non-option argument is taken as the sed script to interpret. All remaining arguments are names of input files; if no input files are specified, then the standard input is read.

GNU sed home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/sed/>. General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>. E-mail bug reports to: <bug-sed@gnu.org>. Be sure to include the word ``sed'' somewhere in the ``Subject:'' field.  

COMMAND SYNOPSIS

Zero-address ``commands''

: label

Label for b and t commands.

#comment

The comment extends until the next newline (or the end of a -e script fragment).

}

The closing bracket of a { } block.

Zero- or One- address commands

=

Print the current line number.

a \

text

Append text, which has each embedded newline preceded by a backslash.

i \

text

Insert text, which has each embedded newline preceded by a backslash.

q [exit-code]

Immediately quit the sed script without processing any more input, except that if auto-print is not disabled the current pattern space will be printed. The exit code argument is a GNU extension.

Q [exit-code]

Immediately quit the sed script without processing any more input. This is a GNU extension.

r filename

Append text read from filename.

R filename

Append a line read from filename. Each invocation of the command reads a line from the file. This is a GNU extension.

Commands which accept address ranges

{

Begin a block of commands (end with a }).

b label

Branch to label; if label is omitted, branch to end of script.

c \

text

Replace the selected lines with text, which has each embedded newline preceded by a backslash.

d

Delete pattern space. Start next cycle.

D

If pattern space contains no newline, start a normal new cycle as if the d command was issued. Otherwise, delete text in the pattern space up to the first newline, and restart cycle with the resultant pattern space, without reading a new line of input.

h H

Copy/append pattern space to hold space.

g G

Copy/append hold space to pattern space.

l

List out the current line in a ``visually unambiguous'' form.

l width

List out the current line in a ``visually unambiguous'' form, breaking it at width characters. This is a GNU extension.

n N

Read/append the next line of input into the pattern space.

p

Print the current pattern space.

P

Print up to the first embedded newline of the current pattern space.

s/regexp/replacement/

Attempt to match regexp against the pattern space. If successful, replace that portion matched with replacement. The replacement may contain the special character & to refer to that portion of the pattern space which matched, and the special escapes \1 through \9 to refer to the corresponding matching sub-expressions in the regexp.

t label

If a s/// has done a successful substitution since the last input line was read and since the last t or T command, then branch to label; if label is omitted, branch to end of script.

T label

If no s/// has done a successful substitution since the last input line was read and since the last t or T command, then branch to label; if label is omitted, branch to end of script. This is a GNU extension.

w filename

Write the current pattern space to filename.

W filename

Write the first line of the current pattern space to filename. This is a GNU extension.

x

Exchange the contents of the hold and pattern spaces.

y/source/dest/

Transliterate the characters in the pattern space which appear in source to the corresponding character in dest.

Addresses

After the address (or address-range), and before the command, a ! may be inserted, which specifies that the command shall only be executed if the address (or address-range) does not match.

The following address types are supported:

number

Match only the specified line number (which increments cumulatively across files, unless the -s option is specified on the command line).

first~step

Match every step'th line starting with line first. For example, ``sed -n 1~2p'' will print all the odd-numbered lines in the input stream, and the address 2~5 will match every fifth line, starting with the second. first can be zero; in this case, sed operates as if it were equal to step. (This is an extension.)

$

Match the last line.

/regexp/

Match lines matching the regular expression regexp.

\cregexpc

Match lines matching the regular expression regexp. The c may be any character.

GNU sed also supports some special 2-address forms:

0,addr2

Start out in "matched first address" state, until addr2 is found. This is similar to 1,addr2, except that if addr2 matches the very first line of input the 0,addr2 form will be at the end of its range, whereas the 1,addr2 form will still be at the beginning of its range. This works only when addr2 is a regular expression.

addr1,+N

Will match addr1 and the N lines following addr1.

addr1,~N

Will match addr1 and the lines following addr1 until the next line whose input line number is a multiple of N.

REGULAR EXPRESSIONS

BUGS

E-mail bug reports to bug-sed@gnu.org. Also, please include the output of ``sed --version'' in the body of your report if at all possible.  

AUTHOR

COPYRIGHT

SEE ALSO

The full documentation for sed is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and sed programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info sed

should give you access to the complete manual.