sed(C)
sed -- invoke the stream editor
Syntax
sed [
-n ] [
script ] [
-f
sfile ] [
file ... ]
sed [ -n ] [ -e script ] ... [ -fsfile ] ... [ file ... ]
Description
The
sed command copies the named
files(standard input default) to the standard output, edited according to a script ofcommands.
sed takes the following options:
-e
script
-
Read the command
script; usually quoted to protect it from theshell.
-f
sfile
-
Take the script from the file
sfile; these options accumulate. Ifthere is just one
-e option and no
-f options, the flag
-e may be omitted.
-n
-
Suppress the default output.
A
script consists of editingcommands, one per line, of the following form:
[
address [ ,
address ] ]
function [
arguments ]
In normal operation, sed cyclically copies a line of input into apattern space (unless there is something left after a D command), appliesin sequence all commands whose addresses select that pattern space, and at theend of the script copies the pattern space to the standard output (except under-n) and deletes the pattern space.
A semicolon ``;'' can be used as a command delimiter.
Some of the commands use a hold space to save all or part of the patternspace for subsequent retrieval (see the ``Limitations'' section).
An address is either a decimal number that counts input lines cumulativelyacross files, a ``$'' that addresses the last line of input, or a contextaddress, that is, a /regular expression/ as described in regexp(M),modified as follows:
-
- In a context address, the construction \?regular expression?, where ``?'' is any character, is identical to /regular expression/. Note that in the context address \xabc\xdefx, the second x stands for itself, so that the standard expression is abcxdef.
- The escape sequence \n matches a newline embedded in the pattern space.
- A dot (.) matches any character except the terminal newline of the pattern space.
- A command line with no addresses selects every pattern space.
- A command line with one address selects each pattern space that matches the address.
- A command line with two addresses separated by a comma selects the inclusive range from the first pattern space that matches the first address through the next pattern space that matches the second. (If the second address is a number less than or equal to the line number first selected, only one line is selected.) Thereafter, the process is repeated, looking again for the first address.
Editing commands can be applied only to nonselectedpattern spaces by use of the negation function ``!'' described in the nextsection.
Functions
In the following list of functions, the maximum number ofpermissible addresses for each function is indicated in parentheses.
The text argument consists of one or more lines, all but the last ofwhich end with backslashes to hide the newlines. Backslashes in text are treatedlike backslashes in the replacement string of an s command, and may beused to protect initial blanks and tabs against the stripping that is done onevery script line.
The rfile or wfile argument must terminate the command line andmust be preceded by one blank. Each wfile is created before processingbegins. There can be at most 10 distinct wfile arguments.
(1)
a\
text
-
Appends
text, placing it on the output before reading the nextinput line. Note that there must be a line break between the command and the
text.
(2)
b
label
-
Branches to the
: command bearing the
label. If
labelis empty, branches to the end of the script.
(2)
c\
text
-
Changes text by deleting the pattern space and then appending
text.With 0 or 1 address or at the end of a 2-address range, places
text onthe output and starts the next cycle. Note that there must be a line breakbetween the command and the
text.
(2)
d
-
Deletes the pattern space and starts the next cycle.
(2)
D
-
Deletes the initial segment of the pattern space through the first newlineand starts the next cycle.
(2)
g
-
Replaces the contents of the pattern space with the contents of the holdspace.
(2)
G
-
Appends the contents of the hold space to the pattern space.
(2)
h
-
Replaces the contents of the hold space with the contents of the patternspace.
(2)
H
-
Appends the contents of the pattern space to the hold space.
(1)
i\
text
-
Insert. Places
text on the standard output. Note that there must bea line break between the command and the
text.
(2)
l
-
Lists the pattern space on the standard output in an unambiguous way.Nonprinting characters are displayed as a three digit octal number preceded bya backslash ``\''. The following characters are printed as escape sequences:
-------------------------------------------
Character Output
-------------------------------------------
backslash \\
alert (bell) \a
backspace \b
form feed \f
carriage return \r
horizontal tab \t
vertical tab \v
Any output lines that are longer than the output device width(determined by the environment variable COLUMNS) are folded into multiplelines. New lines, inserted when folding a long line, are escaped by apreceding backslash character. The ends of each line in the pattern space aredenoted by a dollar character ``$''.
(2)
n
-
Copies the pattern space to the standard output. Replaces the patternspace with the next line of input.
(2)
N
-
Appends the next line of input to the pattern space with an embeddednewline. (The current line number changes.)
(2)
p
-
Prints (copies) the pattern space on the standard output.
(2)
P
-
Prints (copies) the initial segment of the pattern space through the firstnewline to the standard output.
(1)
q
-
Quits
sed by branching to the end of the script. No new cycle isstarted.
(2)
r
rfile
-
Reads the contents of
rfile and places them on the output beforereading the next input line.
(2)
s
/regular expression/replacement/flags
-
Substitutes the
replacement string for instances of the
regularexpression in the pattern space. Any character may be used instead of``/''. For a more detailed description, see
regexp(M).
Flags is zero or more of:
n
-
Substitute for just the
nth occurrence of the
regularexpression.
n must be an integer greater than zero.
g
-
Globally substitutes for all non-overlapping instances of the
regularexpression rather than just the first one.
p
-
Prints the pattern space if a replacement was made.
w
wfile
-
Writes the pattern space to
wfile if a replacement was made.
(2)
t
label
-
Branches to the colon (:) command bearing
label if anysubstitutions have been made since the most recent reading of an input line orexecution of a
t command. If
label is empty,
t branchesto the end of the script.
(2)
w
wfile
-
Writes the pattern space to
wfile.
(2)
x
-
Exchanges the contents of the pattern and hold spaces.
(2)
y
/string1/string2/
-
Replaces all occurrences of characters in
string1 with thecorresponding characters in
string2. The lengths of
string1 and
string2 must be equal.
(2)
!
function
-
Applies the
function (or group, if
function is ``{'') onlyto lines
not selected by the address(es).
(0)
:
label
-
This command does nothing; it bears a
label for
b and
t commands to branch to. Labels can be at most 8 characters long.
(1)
=
-
Places the current line number on the standard output as a line.
(2)
{
-
Executes the following commands through a matching ``}'' only when thepattern space is selected.
(2)
!{
-
Executes the following commands through a matching ``}'' only when thepattern space is not selected.
(0)
-
An empty command is ignored.
(0)
#
-
Ignore the remainder of the line if
# is followed by any othercharacter than ``n'' (treat the line as a comment); if the character ``n''follows
#, suppress the default output (equivalent to the command lineoption
-n).
Environment variables
COLUMNS
-
The width of the standard output device in characters; used by the
l command for folding long lines. If this variable is not set or it hasan invalid value,
sed uses the default value 72.
Exit values
sed continues to process all
file argumentseven if one or more of them produces an open error. If there is an open error,
sed will exit with a value of 1 when it has finished processing thefiles. A value of 2 indicates a usage error.
Examples
The following examples assume the use of
sh(C)or
ksh(C).
A common use of sed is to edit a file from within a shell script. Inthis example, every occurrence of the string ``sysman'' in the fileinfile is replaced by ``System Manager''. A temporary file TMP is used tohold the intermediate result of the edit:
TMP=/usr/tmp/tmpfile_$$
sed -e 's/sysman/System Manager/g' < infile > $TMP
mv $TMP infile
In this example,
sed removes all blank lines (including those withjust <Tab> and <Space> characters) from
padded_file:
sed '
/^$/ d
/^[<Tab><Space>]*$/ d
´ padded_file
sed can be used to strip all lines from a file which do not containa certain string. In this example, all lines in the file
infile whichstart with a hash ``#'' are echoed to the screen:
sed -e '/^#/!d'< infile
If several editing commands must be carried out on a file, but the parametersfor the edit are to be supplied by the user, then use echo to appendcommand lines to a sed script. The following example removes alloccurrences of the strings given as arguments to the script from the fileinfile. The name of the temporary file is held by the variable SCRIPT:
SCRIPT=/usr/tmp/script_$$
for name in $*
do
echo "s/${name}//g" >> $SCRIPT
done
TMPFILE=/usr/tmp/tmpfile_$$
sed -f $SCRIPT < infile > $TMPFILE
mv $TMPFILE infile
rm $SCRIPT
Another use of
sed is to process the output from othercommands. Here the
ps command is filtered using
sed to report thestatus of all processes other than those owned by the super user:
ps-ef | sed -e '/^[<Space><Tab>]*root/d'
Limitations
Both the hold space and pattern space can hold a maximum of8192 bytes.
See also
awk(C),
ed(C),
grep(C),
regexp(M)
Chapter14, ``Manipulating text with sed'' in the Operating System User'sGuide
Standards conformance
sed is conformant with:
ISO/IEC DIS 9945-2:1992, Information technology - Portable Operating SystemInterface (POSIX) - Part 2: Shell and Utilities (IEEE Std 1003.2-1992);
AT&T SVID Issue 2;
X/Open CAE Specification, Commands and Utilities,Issue 4, 1992.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.6 -- 1 August 2000