Gnu sed
From wikinotes
Gnu sed performs search/replace within stdin or files.
See also bsd sed.
Usage
# Replace 'aaa' with 'bbb' cat echo "aaa_stuff_aaa" \ | sed 's_aaa_bbb_g' # Regex cat echo "aaa_stuff_aaa" \ | sed 's_[a]*_b_g' # Group matching (\2 is a variable that refers to the # second match group. In this case, 'stuff' cat echo "aaa_stuff_aaa" \ | sed 's_\([a]*\)\(stuff\)_\2\n' # Replace file contents sed -i"bak" "s_aaa_bbb_g" /path/to/file