3 sed Programs

A sed program consists of one or more sed commands, passed in by one or more of the -e, -f, --expression, and --file options, or the first non-option argument if zero of these options are used. This document will refer to “the” sed script; this is understood to mean the in-order catenation of all of the scripts and script-files passed in.

Each sed command consists of an optional address or address range, followed by a one-character command name and any additional command-specific code.

• Execution Cycle: How sed works
• Addresses: Selecting lines with sed
• Regular Expressions: Overview of regular expression syntax
• Common Commands: Often used commands
• The "s" Command: sed's Swiss Army Knife
• Other Commands: Less frequently used commands
• Programming Commands: Commands for sed gurus
• Extended Commands: Commands specific of GNU sed
• Escapes: Specifying special characters