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.

Commands within a script or script-file can be separated by semicolons (;) or newlines (ASCII 10). Some commands, due to their syntax, cannot be followed by semicolons working as command separators and thus should be terminated with newlines or be placed at the end of a script or script-file. Commands can also be preceded with optional non-significant whitespace characters.

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