12.3. Syntax of sed Commands
sed commands have the general form:
[address[,address]][!]command [arguments]
sed commands consist of addresses and editing commands. commands consist of a single letter or symbol; they are described later, alphabetically and by group. arguments include the label supplied to b or t, the filename supplied to r or w, and the substitution flags for s. addresses are described in the next section.
12.3.1. Pattern Addressing
A sed command can specify zero, one, or two addresses. An address can be a line number, the symbol $ (for last line), or a regular expression enclosed in slashes (/pattern/). Regular expressions are described in Chapter 9, "Pattern Matching". Additionally, \n can be used to match any newline in the pattern space (resulting from the N command) but not the newline at the end of the pattern space.
| If the Command Specifies | Then the Command Is Applied To |
|---|---|
| No address | Each input line. |
| One address | Any line matching the address. Some commands (a, i, r, q, and =) accept only one address. |
Two comma-separated addresses |
First matching line and all succeeding lines up to and including a line matching the second address. |
| An address followed by ! | All lines that do not match the address. |
12.3.1.1. Examples
s/xx/yy/g Substitute on all lines (all occurrences) /BSD/d Delete lines containing BSD /^BEGIN/,/^END/p Print between BEGIN and END, inclusive /SAVE/!d Delete any line that doesn't contain SAVE /BEGIN/,/END/!s/xx/yy/g Substitute on all lines, except between BEGIN and END
Braces ({}) are used in sed to nest one address inside another or to apply multiple commands at the same address:
[/address/[,/address/]]{
command1
command2
}The opening curly brace must end a line, and the closing curly brace must be on a line by itself. Be sure there are no blank spaces after the braces.
 |  |  |
| 12.2. Command-Line Syntax |  | 12.4. Group Summary of sed Commands |
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