Annotation of src/usr.bin/sed/sed.1, Revision 1.37
1.37 ! jmc 1: .\" $OpenBSD: sed.1,v 1.36 2010/09/03 11:09:29 jmc Exp $
1.12 aaron 2: .\"
1.1 deraadt 3: .\" Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
4: .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
5: .\"
6: .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
7: .\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
8: .\"
9: .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
10: .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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12: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
13: .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
14: .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
15: .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
16: .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
1.17 millert 17: .\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
1.1 deraadt 18: .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
19: .\" without specific prior written permission.
20: .\"
21: .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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23: .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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33: .\" from: @(#)sed.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 12/30/93
34: .\"
1.37 ! jmc 35: .Dd $Mdocdate: September 3 2010 $
1.1 deraadt 36: .Dt SED 1
37: .Os
38: .Sh NAME
39: .Nm sed
40: .Nd stream editor
41: .Sh SYNOPSIS
42: .Nm sed
1.34 jmc 43: .Op Fl aEnru
1.1 deraadt 44: .Ar command
1.29 sobrado 45: .Op Ar
1.1 deraadt 46: .Nm sed
1.33 djm 47: .Op Fl aEnru
1.1 deraadt 48: .Op Fl e Ar command
49: .Op Fl f Ar command_file
1.29 sobrado 50: .Op Ar
1.1 deraadt 51: .Sh DESCRIPTION
52: The
1.8 aaron 53: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 54: utility reads the specified files, or the standard input if no files
55: are specified, modifying the input as specified by a list of commands.
56: The input is then written to the standard output.
57: .Pp
58: A single command may be specified as the first argument to
59: .Nm sed .
1.25 jmc 60: Multiple commands may be specified
61: separated by newlines or semicolons,
62: or by using the
1.1 deraadt 63: .Fl e
64: or
65: .Fl f
66: options.
67: All commands are applied to the input in the order they are specified
68: regardless of their origin.
69: .Pp
1.10 aaron 70: The options are as follows:
1.16 aaron 71: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.1 deraadt 72: .It Fl a
73: The files listed as parameters for the
1.8 aaron 74: .Ql w
1.1 deraadt 75: functions are created (or truncated) before any processing begins,
76: by default.
77: The
78: .Fl a
79: option causes
1.8 aaron 80: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 81: to delay opening each file until a command containing the related
1.8 aaron 82: .Ql w
1.1 deraadt 83: function is applied to a line of input.
1.34 jmc 84: .It Fl E
85: Interpret regular expressions using POSIX extended regular expression syntax.
86: The default behaviour is to use POSIX basic regular expression syntax.
1.1 deraadt 87: .It Fl e Ar command
88: Append the editing commands specified by the
89: .Ar command
90: argument
91: to the list of commands.
92: .It Fl f Ar command_file
93: Append the editing commands found in the file
94: .Ar command_file
95: to the list of commands.
96: The editing commands should each be listed on a separate line.
1.33 djm 97: .It Fl r
1.34 jmc 98: An alias for
99: .Fl E ,
100: for compatibility with GNU sed.
1.1 deraadt 101: .It Fl n
102: By default, each line of input is echoed to the standard output after
103: all of the commands have been applied to it.
104: The
105: .Fl n
106: option suppresses this behavior.
1.26 ray 107: .It Fl u
108: Force output to be line buffered,
109: printing each line as it becomes available.
110: By default, output is line buffered when standard output is a terminal
111: and block buffered otherwise.
112: See
113: .Xr setbuf 3
114: for a more detailed explanation.
1.1 deraadt 115: .El
116: .Pp
117: The form of a
1.8 aaron 118: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 119: command is as follows:
1.21 jmc 120: .Pp
1.1 deraadt 121: .Dl [address[,address]]function[arguments]
1.21 jmc 122: .Pp
1.1 deraadt 123: Whitespace may be inserted before the first address and the function
124: portions of the command.
125: .Pp
126: Normally,
1.8 aaron 127: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 128: cyclically copies a line of input, not including its terminating newline
129: character, into a
1.21 jmc 130: .Em pattern space ,
1.1 deraadt 131: (unless there is something left after a
1.37 ! jmc 132: .Ic D
1.1 deraadt 133: function),
134: applies all of the commands with addresses that select that pattern space,
135: copies the pattern space to the standard output, appending a newline, and
136: deletes the pattern space.
137: .Pp
138: Some of the functions use a
1.21 jmc 139: .Em hold space
1.1 deraadt 140: to save all or part of the pattern space for subsequent retrieval.
1.21 jmc 141: .Sh SED ADDRESSES
1.1 deraadt 142: An address is not required, but if specified must be a number (that counts
143: input lines
1.21 jmc 144: cumulatively across input files), a dollar character
1.8 aaron 145: .Pq Ql $
1.21 jmc 146: that addresses the last line of input, or a context address
1.1 deraadt 147: (which consists of a regular expression preceded and followed by a
148: delimiter).
149: .Pp
150: A command line with no addresses selects every pattern space.
151: .Pp
152: A command line with one address selects all of the pattern spaces
153: that match the address.
154: .Pp
155: A command line with two addresses selects the inclusive range from
156: the first pattern space that matches the first address through the next
157: pattern space that matches the second.
158: (If the second address is a number less than or equal to the line number
159: first selected, only that line is selected.)
160: Starting at the first line following the selected range,
1.8 aaron 161: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 162: starts looking again for the first address.
163: .Pp
164: Editing commands can be applied to non-selected pattern spaces by use
165: of the exclamation character
1.18 jmc 166: .Pq Ql \&!
1.1 deraadt 167: function.
1.21 jmc 168: .Sh SED REGULAR EXPRESSIONS
1.34 jmc 169: By default,
1.8 aaron 170: .Nm
1.23 jmc 171: regular expressions are basic regular expressions
172: .Pq BREs .
1.34 jmc 173: Extended regular expressions are supported using the
174: .Fl E
175: and
176: .Fl r
177: options.
1.23 jmc 178: See
1.19 jmc 179: .Xr re_format 7
1.23 jmc 180: for more information on regular expressions.
1.1 deraadt 181: In addition,
1.8 aaron 182: .Nm
1.23 jmc 183: has the following two additions to BREs:
1.21 jmc 184: .Pp
1.1 deraadt 185: .Bl -enum -compact
186: .It
187: In a context address, any character other than a backslash
1.8 aaron 188: .Pq Ql \e
1.1 deraadt 189: or newline character may be used to delimit the regular expression.
1.30 jmc 190: The opening delimiter should be preceded by a backslash
191: unless it is a slash.
192: Putting a backslash character before the delimiting character
1.1 deraadt 193: causes the character to be treated literally.
194: For example, in the context address \exabc\exdefx, the RE delimiter
195: is an
1.8 aaron 196: .Sq x
1.1 deraadt 197: and the second
1.8 aaron 198: .Sq x
1.1 deraadt 199: stands for itself, so that the regular expression is
200: .Dq abcxdef .
1.21 jmc 201: .Pp
1.1 deraadt 202: .It
203: The escape sequence \en matches a newline character embedded in the
204: pattern space.
205: You can't, however, use a literal newline character in an address or
206: in the substitute command.
207: .El
208: .Pp
209: One special feature of
1.8 aaron 210: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 211: regular expressions is that they can default to the last regular
212: expression used.
1.13 aaron 213: If a regular expression is empty, i.e., just the delimiter characters
1.1 deraadt 214: are specified, the last regular expression encountered is used instead.
215: The last regular expression is defined as the last regular expression
216: used as part of an address or substitute command, and at run-time, not
217: compile-time.
218: For example, the command
219: .Dq /abc/s//XXX/
220: will substitute
221: .Dq XXX
222: for the pattern
223: .Dq abc .
1.21 jmc 224: .Sh SED FUNCTIONS
1.1 deraadt 225: In the following list of commands, the maximum number of permissible
226: addresses for each command is indicated by [0addr], [1addr], or [2addr],
227: representing zero, one, or two addresses.
228: .Pp
229: The argument
1.37 ! jmc 230: .Ar text
1.1 deraadt 231: consists of one or more lines.
232: To embed a newline in the text, precede it with a backslash.
233: Other backslashes in text are deleted and the following character
234: taken literally.
235: .Pp
236: The
1.8 aaron 237: .Sq r
1.1 deraadt 238: and
1.8 aaron 239: .Sq w
1.1 deraadt 240: functions take an optional file parameter, which should be separated
1.9 aaron 241: from the function letter by whitespace.
1.1 deraadt 242: Each file given as an argument to
1.8 aaron 243: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 244: is created (or its contents truncated) before any input processing begins.
245: .Pp
246: The
1.8 aaron 247: .Sq b ,
248: .Sq r ,
249: .Sq s ,
250: .Sq t ,
251: .Sq w ,
252: .Sq y ,
1.18 jmc 253: .Ql \&! ,
1.1 deraadt 254: and
1.8 aaron 255: .Ql \&:
1.1 deraadt 256: functions all accept additional arguments.
257: The following synopses indicate which arguments have to be separated from
1.9 aaron 258: the function letters by whitespace characters.
1.1 deraadt 259: .Pp
260: Two of the functions take a function-list.
261: This is a list of
1.8 aaron 262: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 263: functions separated by newlines, as follows:
264: .Bd -literal -offset indent
265: { function
266: function
267: ...
268: function
269: }
270: .Ed
271: .Pp
272: The
1.8 aaron 273: .Ql {
1.9 aaron 274: can be preceded or followed by whitespace.
275: The function can be preceded by whitespace as well.
1.1 deraadt 276: The terminating
1.8 aaron 277: .Ql }
1.9 aaron 278: must be preceded by a newline or optional whitespace.
1.37 ! jmc 279: .Bl -tag -width Ds
! 280: .It [2addr] Ar function-list
1.15 aaron 281: Execute
1.37 ! jmc 282: .Ar function-list
1.15 aaron 283: only when the pattern space is selected.
1.37 ! jmc 284: .It Xo [1 addr] Ic a Ns \e
! 285: .br
! 286: .Ar text
! 287: .Xc
1.21 jmc 288: .Pp
1.1 deraadt 289: Write
1.37 ! jmc 290: .Ar text
1.1 deraadt 291: to standard output immediately before each attempt to read a line of input,
292: whether by executing the
1.37 ! jmc 293: .Ic N
1.1 deraadt 294: function or by beginning a new cycle.
1.37 ! jmc 295: .It [2addr] Ns Ic b Bq Ar label
1.1 deraadt 296: Branch to the
1.37 ! jmc 297: .Ic \&:
! 298: function with the specified
! 299: .Ar label .
1.1 deraadt 300: If the label is not specified, branch to the end of the script.
1.37 ! jmc 301: .It Xo [2addr] Ic c Ns \e
! 302: .br
! 303: .Ar text
! 304: .Xc
1.21 jmc 305: .Pp
1.1 deraadt 306: Delete the pattern space.
307: With 0 or 1 address or at the end of a 2-address range,
1.37 ! jmc 308: .Ar text
1.1 deraadt 309: is written to the standard output.
1.37 ! jmc 310: .It [2addr] Ns Ic d
1.1 deraadt 311: Delete the pattern space and start the next cycle.
1.37 ! jmc 312: .It [2addr] Ns Ic D
1.1 deraadt 313: Delete the initial segment of the pattern space through the first
314: newline character and start the next cycle.
1.37 ! jmc 315: .It [2addr] Ns Ic g
1.1 deraadt 316: Replace the contents of the pattern space with the contents of the
317: hold space.
1.37 ! jmc 318: .It [2addr] Ns Ic G
1.1 deraadt 319: Append a newline character followed by the contents of the hold space
320: to the pattern space.
1.37 ! jmc 321: .It [2addr] Ns Ic h
1.1 deraadt 322: Replace the contents of the hold space with the contents of the
323: pattern space.
1.37 ! jmc 324: .It [2addr] Ns Ic H
1.1 deraadt 325: Append a newline character followed by the contents of the pattern space
326: to the hold space.
1.37 ! jmc 327: .It Xo [1addr] Ic i Ns \e
! 328: .br
! 329: .Ar text
! 330: .Xc
1.21 jmc 331: .Pp
1.1 deraadt 332: Write
1.37 ! jmc 333: .Ar text
1.1 deraadt 334: to the standard output.
1.37 ! jmc 335: .It [2addr] Ns Ic l
1.1 deraadt 336: (The letter ell.)
337: Write the pattern space to the standard output in a visually unambiguous
338: form.
339: This form is as follows:
1.21 jmc 340: .Pp
1.1 deraadt 341: .Bl -tag -width "carriage-returnXX" -offset indent -compact
342: .It backslash
1.3 deraadt 343: \e\e
1.1 deraadt 344: .It alert
345: \ea
1.31 millert 346: .It backspace
347: \eb
1.1 deraadt 348: .It form-feed
349: \ef
350: .It carriage-return
351: \er
352: .It tab
353: \et
354: .It vertical tab
355: \ev
356: .El
357: .Pp
1.15 aaron 358: Non-printable characters are written as three-digit octal numbers (with a
1.1 deraadt 359: preceding backslash) for each byte in the character (most significant byte
360: first).
361: Long lines are folded, with the point of folding indicated by displaying
362: a backslash followed by a newline.
363: The end of each line is marked with a
1.8 aaron 364: .Ql $ .
1.37 ! jmc 365: .It [2addr] Ns Ic n
1.1 deraadt 366: Write the pattern space to the standard output if the default output has
367: not been suppressed, and replace the pattern space with the next line of
368: input.
1.37 ! jmc 369: .It [2addr] Ns Ic N
1.1 deraadt 370: Append the next line of input to the pattern space, using an embedded
371: newline character to separate the appended material from the original
372: contents.
373: Note that the current line number changes.
1.37 ! jmc 374: .It [2addr] Ns Ic p
1.1 deraadt 375: Write the pattern space to standard output.
1.37 ! jmc 376: .It [2addr] Ns Ic P
1.1 deraadt 377: Write the pattern space, up to the first newline character to the
378: standard output.
1.37 ! jmc 379: .It [1addr] Ns Ic q
1.1 deraadt 380: Branch to the end of the script and quit without starting a new cycle.
1.37 ! jmc 381: .It [1addr] Ns Ic r Ar file
1.1 deraadt 382: Copy the contents of
1.37 ! jmc 383: .Ar file
1.1 deraadt 384: to the standard output immediately before the next attempt to read a
385: line of input.
386: If
1.37 ! jmc 387: .Ar file
1.1 deraadt 388: cannot be read for any reason, it is silently ignored and no error
389: condition is set.
1.37 ! jmc 390: .It [2addr] Ns Ic s Ns / Ns Ar RE Ns / Ns Ar replacement Ns / Ns Ar flags
! 391: Substitute the
! 392: .Ar replacement
! 393: string for the first instance of the regular expression
! 394: .Ar RE
! 395: in the pattern space.
1.1 deraadt 396: Any character other than backslash or newline can be used instead of
1.37 ! jmc 397: a slash to delimit the regular expression and the replacement.
! 398: Within the regular expression and the replacement,
! 399: the regular expression delimiter itself can be used as
1.1 deraadt 400: a literal character if it is preceded by a backslash.
401: .Pp
402: An ampersand
1.8 aaron 403: .Pq Ql &
1.37 ! jmc 404: appearing in the replacement is replaced by the string matching the
! 405: regular expression.
1.1 deraadt 406: The special meaning of
1.8 aaron 407: .Ql &
1.1 deraadt 408: in this context can be suppressed by preceding it by a backslash.
409: The string
1.8 aaron 410: .Ql \e# ,
1.1 deraadt 411: where
1.8 aaron 412: .Ql #
1.1 deraadt 413: is a digit, is replaced by the text matched
414: by the corresponding backreference expression (see
1.14 aaron 415: .Xr re_format 7 ) .
1.1 deraadt 416: .Pp
417: A line can be split by substituting a newline character into it.
418: To specify a newline character in the replacement string, precede it with
419: a backslash.
420: .Pp
421: The value of
1.37 ! jmc 422: .Ar flags
1.1 deraadt 423: in the substitute function is zero or more of the following:
424: .Bl -tag -width "XXXXXX" -offset indent
1.37 ! jmc 425: .It Cm 0 No ... Cm 9
1.1 deraadt 426: Make the substitution only for the N'th occurrence of the regular
427: expression in the pattern space.
1.37 ! jmc 428: .It Cm g
1.1 deraadt 429: Make the substitution for all non-overlapping matches of the
430: regular expression, not just the first one.
1.37 ! jmc 431: .It Cm p
1.1 deraadt 432: Write the pattern space to standard output if a replacement was made.
433: If the replacement string is identical to that which it replaces, it
434: is still considered to have been a replacement.
1.37 ! jmc 435: .It Cm w Ar file
1.1 deraadt 436: Append the pattern space to
1.37 ! jmc 437: .Ar file
1.1 deraadt 438: if a replacement was made.
439: If the replacement string is identical to that which it replaces, it
440: is still considered to have been a replacement.
441: .El
1.37 ! jmc 442: .It [2addr] Ns Ic t Bq Ar label
1.1 deraadt 443: Branch to the
1.37 ! jmc 444: .Ic \&:
! 445: function bearing the
! 446: .Ar label
! 447: if any substitutions have been made since the
1.1 deraadt 448: most recent reading of an input line or execution of a
1.37 ! jmc 449: .Ic t
1.1 deraadt 450: function.
451: If no label is specified, branch to the end of the script.
1.37 ! jmc 452: .It [2addr] Ns Ic w Ar file
1.1 deraadt 453: Append the pattern space to the
1.37 ! jmc 454: .Ar file .
! 455: .It [2addr] Ns Ic x
1.1 deraadt 456: Swap the contents of the pattern and hold spaces.
1.37 ! jmc 457: .It [2addr] Ns Ic y Ns / Ns Ar string1 Ns / Ns Ar string2 Ns /
1.1 deraadt 458: Replace all occurrences of characters in
1.37 ! jmc 459: .Ar string1
1.1 deraadt 460: in the pattern space with the corresponding characters from
1.37 ! jmc 461: .Ar string2 .
1.1 deraadt 462: Any character other than a backslash or newline can be used instead of
463: a slash to delimit the strings.
464: Within
1.37 ! jmc 465: .Ar string1
1.1 deraadt 466: and
1.37 ! jmc 467: .Ar string2 ,
1.1 deraadt 468: a backslash followed by any character other than a newline is that literal
1.8 aaron 469: character, and a backslash followed by an
470: .Sq n
471: is replaced by a newline character.
1.37 ! jmc 472: .It [2addr] Ns Ic \&! Ns Ar function , [2addr] Ns Ic \&! Ns Ar function-list
1.1 deraadt 473: Apply the function or function-list only to the lines that are
474: .Em not
475: selected by the address(es).
1.37 ! jmc 476: .It [0addr] Ns Ic \&: Ns Ar label
! 477: This function does nothing; it bears a
! 478: .Ar label
! 479: to which the
! 480: .Ic b
1.1 deraadt 481: and
1.37 ! jmc 482: .Ic t
1.1 deraadt 483: commands may branch.
1.37 ! jmc 484: .It [1addr] Ns Ic =
1.15 aaron 485: Write the line number to the standard output followed by a newline character.
1.1 deraadt 486: .It [0addr]
487: Empty lines are ignored.
1.37 ! jmc 488: .It [0addr] Ns Ic #
1.1 deraadt 489: The
1.8 aaron 490: .Ql #
1.1 deraadt 491: and the remainder of the line are ignored (treated as a comment), with
492: the single exception that if the first two characters in the file are
1.8 aaron 493: .Ql #n ,
1.1 deraadt 494: the default output is suppressed.
495: This is the same as specifying the
496: .Fl n
497: option on the command line.
498: .El
1.36 jmc 499: .Sh EXIT STATUS
1.24 jmc 500: .Ex -std sed
1.1 deraadt 501: .Sh SEE ALSO
502: .Xr awk 1 ,
503: .Xr ed 1 ,
504: .Xr grep 1 ,
505: .Xr regex 3 ,
1.26 ray 506: .Xr setbuf 3 ,
1.1 deraadt 507: .Xr re_format 7
508: .Sh STANDARDS
509: The
1.8 aaron 510: .Nm
1.25 jmc 511: utility is compliant with the
1.32 jmc 512: .St -p1003.1-2008
1.1 deraadt 513: specification.
1.25 jmc 514: .Pp
1.26 ray 515: The flags
1.33 djm 516: .Op Fl aEru
1.27 jmc 517: are extensions to that specification.
1.25 jmc 518: .Pp
519: The use of newlines to separate multiple commands on the command line
520: is non-portable;
521: the use of newlines to separate multiple commands within a command file
522: .Pq Fl f Ar command_file
523: is portable.
1.11 aaron 524: .Sh HISTORY
525: A
526: .Nm
527: command appeared in
528: .At v7 .
1.25 jmc 529: .Sh CAVEATS
530: The use of semicolons to separate multiple commands
531: is not permitted for the following commands:
1.37 ! jmc 532: .Ic a , b , c ,
! 533: .Ic i , r , t ,
! 534: .Ic w , \&: ,
1.25 jmc 535: and
1.37 ! jmc 536: .Ic # .
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