A Collection of 60 GNU sed Command Line Examples
This article is a long compilation of our six series of GNU sed command line examples. This article contains more than 60 command lines divided in 6 part. This is intended for those who want to practice, hence this article contains no explanation for every example. We hope this helps you to learn GNU sed easier.
GNU sed Examples The Series
- Episode 1
- Episode 2
- Episode 3
- Episode 4
- Episode 5
- Episode 6
Part 1
1. Read Text File
sed r text.txt
2. Find & Replace
sed �s/UNIX/MINIX/g� text.txt
3. Find & Replace (g Flag)
- echo �UNIX UNIX UNIX� | sed �s/UNIX/GNU/g�
- echo �UNIX UNIX UNIX� | sed �s/UNIX/GNU/�
- sed �s/have/U&/g� text.txt
- sed �s/UNIX/L&/g� text.txt
- sed �s/GNU/L&/g� text.txt
- echo �UNIX MINIX� | sed �s/MINIX/L&/g�
- sed �d� text.txt
- sed -i �d� text.txt
- sed �d� text.txt > new_text.txt
- sed �1d� text.txt
- sed �1,3d� text.txt
- sed �4,6d� text.txt
sed �/^$/d� text.txt
sed �/^$/!d� text.txt
sed �/UNIX/d� text.txt
Part 2
11. Find & Replace (Specific Line)
- sed 3 s/bsd/U&/g text2.txt
- sed 1 s/gnu/U&/g text2.txt
- sed 2 s/unix/U&/g text2.txt
12. Find & Replace (Column Number)
sed �s/gnu/U&/1� text2.txt
13. Find & Replace (Column Number & Specific Line)
- sed �1 s/gnu/U&/1� text2.txt
- sed �2 s/unix/U&/1� text2.txt
14. Find & Replace (Column Number & g Flag)
sed �1 s/gnu/U&/g1� text2.txt
15. Find & Replace (Duplicate Column)
- sed s/(bsd)/1 1 1/g text2.txt
- sed s/(gnu)/1 1 1/g text2.txt
16. Find & Replace (Decorate Column)
- sed s/(bsd)/[1]/g text2.txt
- sed s/(gnu)/{1}/g text2.txt
17. Find & Replace (Delete All Line Numbers)
sed s/^[0-9]*[0-9].//g text3.txt
18. Find & Replace (Case Insensitive)
sed s/bsd/changed/Ig text2.txt
19. Delete Line (Case Insensitive)
- sed /unix/Id text5.txt
- sed /bsd/Id text5.txt
- sed /gnu/Id text5.txt
20. Delete Line (OR Logic Regex)
- sed /<-|->/d text4.txt
- sed /sign|just/d text4.txt
- sed /sign|just|in/d text4.txt
Part 3
21. Run Multiple Commands
sed -e s/gnu/U&/g -e s/bsd/U&/g text6.txt
22. Run Multiple Commands (Simpler)
sed s/gnu/U&/g; s/bsd/U&/g text6.txt
23. Combine sed with bash Looping Commands
for i in {6..8}; do sed /bsd/d "text$i.txt"; echo ""; done;
24. Delete Contents of Multiple Files (bash Looping)
for i in {6..8}; do sed -i d text$i.txt; done
25. Rename Multiple Files (bash Looping)
- for i in *.txt; do mv "$i" "`echo $i | sed "s/text/flext/g"`"; done
- for i in *.txt; do mv -v "$i" "`echo $i | sed "s/^[0-9]*[0-9]//g"`"; done
26. Delete Multiple Files (bash Looping)
- for i in *.txt; do rm -v "`echo $i | sed "s/^[0-9]*[0-9]//g"`"; done
- for i in *.txt; do rm -v "`echo $i | sed -n "/^[0-9]*[0-9]/p"`"; done
27. Change Slash Delimiters to Another Characters
- sed s/unix/CHANGED/g text6.txt
- sed s@unix@CHANGED@g text6.txt
- sed s!unix!CHANGED!g text6.txt
- sed s?unix?CHANGED?g text6.txt
28. Adjust Line Spacing (Single)
sed �G� text6.txt
29. Adjust Line Spacing (Double)
sed G;G text6.txt
30. Find & Replace (Lines Range)
sed 1,3 s/unix/CHANGED/g text6.txt
Part 4
31. Print Matched Lines
sed -n /unix/p text9.txt
32. Print Reverse-Matched Lines
sed -n /unix/!p text9.txt
33. Bash Looping with Delay Time
for i in *.txt; do sed s/x/[X]/g $i; echo " "; sleep 1; done
34. Print The File Name
sed -n $ F text9.txt
35. Print The First Line
sed �q� text9.txt
36. Print The Last Line
sed -n $ p text9.txt
37. Count Total Line Number
sed -n $ = text9.txt
38. Print Multiple Files First Lines (bash Looping)
- for i in *.txt; do sed �q� $i; done
- for i in *.txt; do sed -n $ F $i; sed q $i; done
39. Print Multiple Files Last Lines (bash Looping)
- for i in *.txt; do sed -n $ p $i; done
- for i in *.txt; do sed -n $ F $i; sed -n $ p $i; done
40. Count Multiple Files Line Numbers (bash Looping)
for i in *.txt; do sed -n $ F; $ = "$i"; done
Part 5
41. Delete Comment Lines (Double Slash Style)
sed /^//.*$/d text12.txt
42. Delete Comment Lines (Double Slash Style, Except At Line Beginning)
sed s+([^!]//.*$)++g text12.txt
43. Delete Comment Lines (Hash Style)
sed /^#[^!].*.$/d text13.txt
44. Delete Comment Lines (Slash-Asterisk Style)
sed //*/,/*//d text14.txt
45. Boolean Operator OR
sed -E -n /this|line|return/p text14.txt
46. Boolean Operator AND
- sed -n /this.*comment/p text14.txt
- sed -n /this.*slash.*comment.*/p text14.txt
47. Multiple Convert Images (PNG to JPEG)
for i in *.png; do convert -verbose "$i" "`echo $i | sed s/.png/.jpeg/g`"; done
48. Multiple Convert Images (JPEG to PNG)
for i in *.jpeg; do convert -verbose "$i" "`echo $i | sed s/.jpeg/.png/g`"; done
49. Insert A Single Line
- sed 1i # THIS IS A NEW LINE text13.txt
- sed 3i # THIS IS A NEW LINE text13.txt
50. Insert Multiple Lines
sed 3i # THIS IS A NEW LINE # THIS IS ANOTHER LINE text13.txt
Part 6
51. Print Only Lines Between Two Patterns
- sed -n /gnu/,/dunix/p text15.txt
- sed -n /dunix/,/sunos/Ip text15.txt
52. Delete Only Comment Lines Between Address Range
- sed 10,19{//*/,/*//d} text14.txt
- sed 10,19{////d} text14.txt
53. Delete Only Comment Lines Between Two Patterns
- sed /printf/,/printf/{//*/,/*//d} text14.txt
- sed /^/,/main/{//*/,/*//d} text14.txt
54. Edit Only Matched Lines Between Address Range
sed 4,7{s/x/[X]/Ig} text15.txt
55. Edit All Uppercase Characters (POSIX Character Class)
sed s/[[:upper:]]/[X]/g text15.txt
56. Edit All Lowercase Characters (POSIX Character Class)
sed s/[[:lower:]]/[X]/g text15.txt
57. Edit All Punctuation Characters (POSIX Character Class)
sed s/[[:punct:]]/[X]/g text15.txt
58. Edit All Uppercase & Lowercase (POSIX Character Class)
sed s/[[:alpha:]]/[X]/g text15.txt
59. Edit All Numeric Characters (POSIX Character Class)
sed s/[[:digit:]]/[X]/g text15.txt
60. Edit All Space & Tab Characters (POSIX Character Class)
sed s/[[:blank:]]/[X]/g text15.txt
