De Sed Command in Unix and Linux Examples

Sed is a Stream Editor used for modifying the files in unix (or linux). Whenever you want to
make changes to the file automatically, sed comes in handy to do this. Most people never learn
its power; they just simply use sed to replace text. You can do many things apart from replacing
text with sed. Here I will describe the features of sed with examples.
Consider the below text file as an input.
>cat file.txt
unix is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
unixlinux which one you choose.

Sed Command Examples

1. Replacing or substituting string
Sed command is mostly used to replace the text in a file. The below simple sed command
replaces the word "unix" with "linux" in the file.
>sed 's/unix/linux/' file.txt
linux is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
linuxlinux which one you choose.

Here the "s" specifies the substitution operation. The "/" are delimiters. The "unix" is the search
pattern and the "linux" is the replacement string.
By default, the sed command replaces the first occurrence of the pattern in each line and it won't
replace the second, third...occurrence in the line.
2. Replacing the nth occurrence of a pattern in a line.
Use the /1, /2 etc flags to replace the first, second occurrence of a pattern in a line. The below
command replaces the second occurrence of the word "unix" with "linux" in a line.
>sed 's/unix/linux/2' file.txt
unix is great os. linux is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
unixlinux which one you choose.

3. Replacing all the occurrence of the pattern in a line.

The substitute flag /g (global replacement) specifies the sed command to replace all the
occurrences of the string in the line.

>sed 's/unix/linux/g' file.txt

linux is great os. linux is opensource. linux is free os.
learn operating system.
linuxlinux which one you choose.

4. Replacing from nth occurrence to all occurrences in a line.

Use the combination of /1, /2 etc and /g to replace all the patterns from the nth occurrence of a
pattern in a line. The following sed command replaces the third, fourth, fifth... "unix" word with
"linux" word in a line.
>sed 's/unix/linux/3g' file.txt
unix is great os. unix is opensource. linux is free os.
learn operating system.
unixlinux which one you choose.

5. Changing the slash (/) delimiter

You can use any delimiter other than the slash. As an example if you want to change the web url
to another url as
>sed 's/http:\/\//www/' file.txt

In this case the url consists the delimiter character which we used. In that case you have to
escape the slash with backslash character, otherwise the substitution won't work.
Using too many backslashes makes the sed command look awkward. In this case we can change
the delimiter to another character as shown in the below example.
>sed 's_http://_www_' file.txt
>sed 's|http://|www|' file.txt

6. Using & as the matched string

There might be cases where you want to search for the pattern and replace that pattern by adding
some extra characters to it. In such cases & comes in handy. The & represents the matched
string.
>sed 's/unix/{&}/' file.txt
{unix} is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
{unix}linux which one you choose.
>sed 's/unix/{&&}/' file.txt
{unixunix} is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
{unixunix}linux which one you choose.

7. Using \1,\2 and so on to \9

The first pair of parenthesis specified in the pattern represents the \1, the second represents the \2

and so on. The \1,\2 can be used in the replacement string to make changes to the source string.
As an example, if you want to replace the word "unix" in a line with twice as the word like
"unixunix" use the sed command as below.
>sed 's/\(unix\)/\1\1/' file.txt
unixunix is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
unixunixlinux which one you choose.

The parenthesis needs to be escaped with the backslash character. Another example is if you
want to switch the words "unixlinux" as "linuxunix", the sed command is
>sed 's/\(unix\)\(linux\)/\2\1/' file.txt
unix is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
linuxunix which one you choose.

Another example is switching the first three characters in a line

>sed 's/^\(.\)\(.\)\(.\)/\3\2\1/' file.txt
inux is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
aelrn operating system.
inuxlinux which one you choose.

8. Duplicating the replaced line with /p flag

The /p print flag prints the replaced line twice on the terminal. If a line does not have the search
pattern and is not replaced, then the /p prints that line only once.
>sed 's/unix/linux/p' file.txt
linux is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
linux is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
linuxlinux which one you choose.
linuxlinux which one you choose.

9. Printing only the replaced lines

Use the -n option along with the /p print flag to display only the replaced lines. Here the -n
option suppresses the duplicate rows generated by the /p flag and prints the replaced lines only
one time.
>sed -n 's/unix/linux/p' file.txt
linux is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
linuxlinux which one you choose.

If you use -n alone without /p, then the sed does not print anything.
10. Running multiple sed commands.

You can run multiple sed commands by piping the output of one sed command as input to
another sed command.
>sed 's/unix/linux/' file.txt| sed 's/os/system/'
linux is great system. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
linuxlinux which one you chosysteme.

Sed provides -e option to run multiple sed commands in a single sed command. The above output
can be achieved in a single sed command as shown below.
>sed -e 's/unix/linux/' -e 's/os/system/' file.txt
linux is great system. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
linuxlinux which one you chosysteme.

11. Replacing string on a specific line number.

You can restrict the sed command to replace the string on a specific line number. An example is
>sed '3 s/unix/linux/' file.txt
unix is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
linuxlinux which one you choose.

The above sed command replaces the string only on the third line.
12. Replacing string on a range of lines.
You can specify a range of line numbers to the sed command for replacing a string.
>sed '1,3 s/unix/linux/' file.txt
linux is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
linuxlinux which one you choose.

Here the sed command replaces the lines with range from 1 to 3. Another example is
>sed '2,$ s/unix/linux/' file.txt
linux is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
linuxlinux which one you choose.

Here $ indicates the last line in the file. So the sed command replaces the text from second line to
last line in the file.
13. Replace on a lines which matches a pattern.
You can specify a pattern to the sed command to match in a line. If the pattern match occurs,
then only the sed command looks for the string to be replaced and if it finds, then the sed
command replaces the string.

>sed '/linux/ s/unix/centos/' file.txt

unix is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
centoslinux which one you choose.

Here the sed command first looks for the lines which has the pattern "linux" and then replaces
the word "unix" with "centos".
14. Deleting lines.
You can delete the lines a file by specifying the line number or a range or numbers.
>sed '2 d' file.txt
>sed '5,$ d' file.txt

15. Duplicating lines

You can make the sed command to print each line of a file two times.
>sed 'p' file.txt

16. Sed as grep command

You can make sed command to work as similar to grep command.
>grep 'unix' file.txt
>sed -n '/unix/ p' file.txt

Here the sed command looks for the pattern "unix" in each line of a file and prints those lines
that has the pattern.
You can also make the sed command to work as grep -v, just by using the reversing the sed with
NOT (!).
>grep -v 'unix' file.txt
>sed -n '/unix/ !p' file.txt

The ! here inverts the pattern match.

17. Add a line after a match.
The sed command can add a new line after a pattern match is found. The "a" command to sed
tells it to add a new line after a match is found.
>sed '/unix/ a "Add a new line"' file.txt
unix is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
"Add a new line"
learn operating system.
unixlinux which one you choose.
"Add a new line"

18. Add a line before a match

The sed command can add a new line before a pattern match is found. The "i" command to sed
tells it to add a new line before a match is found.
>sed '/unix/ i "Add a new line"' file.txt
"Add a new line"
unix is great os. unix is opensource. unix is free os.
learn operating system.
"Add a new line"
unixlinux which one you choose.

19. Change a line

The sed command can be used to replace an entire line with a new line. The "c" command to sed
tells it to change the line.
>sed '/unix/ c "Change line"' file.txt
"Change line"
learn operating system.
"Change line"

20. Transform like tr command

The sed command can be used to convert the lower case letters to upper case letters by using the
transform "y" option.
>sed 'y/ul/UL/' file.txt
Unix is great os. Unix is opensoUrce. Unix is free os.
Learn operating system.
UnixLinUx which one yoU choose.

Here the sed command transforms the alphabets "ul" into their uppercase format "UL"

Grep Command in Unix and Linux Examples

Grep is the frequently used command in Unix (or Linux). Most of us use grep just for finding the
words in a file. The power of grep comes with using its options and regular expressions. You can
analyze large sets of log files with the help of grep command.
Grep stands for Global search for Regular Expressions and Print.
The basic syntax of grep command is
grep [options] pattern [list of files]

Let see some practical examples on grep command.

1. Running the last executed grep command
This saves a lot of time if you are executing the same command again and again.
!grep

This displays the last executed grep command and also prints the result set of the command on
the terminal.
2. Search for a string in a file
This is the basic usage of grep command. It searches for the given string in the specified file.
grep "Error" logfile.txt

This searches for the string "Error" in the log file and prints all the lines that has the word
"Error".
3. Searching for a string in multiple files.
grep "string" file1 file2
grep "string" file_pattern

This is also the basic usage of the grep command. You can manually specify the list of files you
want to search or you can specify a file pattern (use regular expressions) to search for.
4. Case insensitive search
The -i option enables to search for a string case insensitively in the give file. It matches the
words like "UNIX", "Unix", "unix".
grep -i "UNix" file.txt

5. Specifying the search string as a regular expression pattern.

grep "^[0-9].*" file.txt

This will search for the lines which starts with a number. Regular expressions is huge topic and I
am not covering it here. This example is just for providing the usage of regular expressions.
6. Checking for the whole words in a file.
By default, grep matches the given string/pattern even if it found as a substring in a file. The -w
option to grep makes it match only the whole words.
grep -w "world" file.txt

7. Displaying the lines before the match.

Some times, if you are searching for an error in a log file; it is always good to know the lines
around the error lines to know the cause of the error.
grep -B 2 "Error" file.txt

This will prints the matched lines along with the two lines before the matched lines.
8. Displaying the lines after the match.
grep -A 3 "Error" file.txt

This will display the matched lines along with the three lines after the matched lines.
9. Displaying the lines around the match
grep -C 5 "Error" file.txt

This will display the matched lines and also five lines before and after the matched lines.
10. Searching for a sting in all files recursively
You can search for a string in all the files under the current directory and sub-directories with the
help -r option.
grep -r "string" *

11. Inverting the pattern match

You can display the lines that are not matched with the specified search sting pattern using the -v
option.
grep -v "string" file.txt

12. Displaying the non-empty lines

You can remove the blank lines using the grep command.
grep -v "^$" file.txt

13. Displaying the count of number of matches.

We can find the number of lines that matches the given string/pattern
grep -c "sting" file.txt

14. Display the file names that matches the pattern.

We can just display the files that contains the given string/pattern.
grep -l "string" file.txt

15. Display the file names that do not contain the pattern.
We can display the files which do not contain the matched string/pattern.
grep -l "string" file.txt

16. Displaying only the matched pattern.

By default, grep displays the entire line which has the matched string. We can make the grep to
display only the matched string by using the -o option.
grep -o "string" file.txt

17. Displaying the line numbers.

We can make the grep command to display the position of the line which contains the matched
string in a file using the -n option
grep -n "string" file.txt

18. Displaying the position of the matched string in the line

The -b option allows the grep command to display the character position of the matched string in
a file.
grep -o -b "string" file.txt

19. Matching the lines that start with a string

The ^ regular expression pattern specifies the start of a line. This can be used in grep to match
the lines which start with the given string or pattern.
grep "^start" file.txt

20. Matching the lines that end with a string

The $ regular expression pattern specifies the end of a line. This can be used in grep to match the
lines which end with the given string or pattern.
grep "end$" file.txt

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Find Command in Unix and Linux Examples

Find is one of the powerful utility of Unix (or Linux) used for searching the files in a directory
hierarchy. The syntax of find command is
find [pathnames] [conditions]

Let see some practical exercises on using find command.

1. How to run the last executed find command?
!find

This will execute the last find command. It also displays the last find command executed along
with the result on the terminal.
2. How to find for a file using name?
find -name "sum.java"
./bkp/sum.java

./sum.java

This will find all the files with name "sum.java" in the current directory and sub-directories.
3. How to find for files using name and ignoring case?
find -iname "sum.java"
./SUM.java
./bkp/sum.java
./sum.java

This will find all the files with name "sum.java" while ignoring the case in the current directory
and sub-directories.
4. How to find for a file in the current directory only?
find -maxdepth 1 -name "sum.java"
./sum.java

This will find for the file "sum.java" in the current directory only
5. How to find for files containing a specific word in its name?
find -name "*java*"
./SUM.java
./bkp/sum.java
./sum.java
./multiply.java

It displayed all the files which have the word "java" in the filename
6. How to find for files in a specific directory?
find /etc -name "*java*"

This will look for the files in the /etc directory with "java" in the filename
7. How to find the files whose name are not "sum.java"?
find -not -name "sum.java"
.
./SUM.java
./bkp
./multiply.java

This is like inverting the match. It prints all the files except the given file "sum.java".
8. How to limit the file searches to specific directories?
find -name "sum.java"
./tmp/sum.java

./bkp/var/tmp/files/sum.java
./bkp/var/tmp/sum.java
./bkp/var/sum.java
./bkp/sum.java
./sum.java

You can see here the find command displayed all the files with name "sum.java" in the current
directory and sub-directories.
a. How to print the files in the current directory and one level down to the current directory?
find -maxdepth 2 -name "sum.java"
./tmp/sum.java
./bkp/sum.java
./sum.java

b. How to print the files in the current directory and two levels down to the current directory?
find -maxdepth 3 -name "sum.java"
./tmp/sum.java
./bkp/var/sum.java
./bkp/sum.java
./sum.java

c. How to print the files in the subdirectories between level 1 and 4?

find -mindepth 2 -maxdepth 5 -name "sum.java"
./tmp/sum.java
./bkp/var/tmp/files/sum.java
./bkp/var/tmp/sum.java
./bkp/var/sum.java
./bkp/sum.java

9. How to find the empty files in a directory?

find . -maxdepth 1 -empty
./empty_file

10. How to find the largest file in the current directory and sub directories
find . -type f -exec ls -s {} \; | sort -n -r | head -1

The find command "find . -type f -exec ls -s {} \;" will list all the files along with the size of the
file. Then the sort command will sort the files based on the size. The head command will pick
only the first line from the output of sort.
11. How to find the smallest file in the current directory and sub directories
find . -type f -exec ls -s {} \; | sort -n -r | tail -1

Another method using find is

find . -type f -exec ls -s {} \; | sort -n

| head -1

12. How to find files based on the file type?

a. Finding socket files
find . -type s

b. Finding directories
find . -type d

c. Finding hidden directories

find -type d -name ".*"

d. Finding regular files

find . -type f

e. Finding hidden files

find . -type f -name ".*"

13. How to find files based on the size?

a. Finding files whose size is exactly 10M
find . -size 10M

b. Finding files larger than 10M size

find . -size +10M

c. Finding files smaller than 10M size

find . -size -10M

14. How to find the files which are modified after the modification of a give file.
find -newer "sum.java"

This will display all the files which are modified after the file "sum.java"
15. Display the files which are accessed after the modification of a give file.
find -anewer "sum.java"

16. Display the files which are changed after the modification of a give file.

find -cnewer "sum.java"

17. How to find the files based on the file permissions?

find . -perm 777

This will display the files which have read, write, and execute permissions. To know the
permissions of files and directories use the command "ls -l".
18. Find the files which are modified within 30 minutes.
find . -mmin -30

19. Find the files which are modified within 1 day.

find . -mtime -1

20. How to find the files which are modified 30 minutes back
find . -not -mmin -30

21. How to find the files which are modified 1 day back.
find . -not -mtime -1

22. Print the files which are accessed within 1 hour.

find . -amin -60

23. Print the files which are accessed within 1 day.

find . -atime -1

24. Display the files which are changed within 2 hours.

find . -cmin -120

25. Display the files which are changed within 2 days.

find . -ctime -2

26. How to find the files which are created between two files.
find . -cnewer f1 -and ! -cnewer f2

So far we have just find the files and displayed on the terminal. Now we will see how to perform
some operations on the files.
1. How to find the permissions of the files which contain the name "java"?

find -name "*java*"|xargs ls -l

Alternate method is
find -name "*java*" -exec ls -l {} \;

2. Find the files which have the name "java" in it and then display only the files which have
"class" word in them?
find -name "*java*" -exec grep -H class {} \;

3. How to remove files which contain the name "java".

find -name "*java*" -exec rm -r {} \;

This will delete all the files which have the word java" in the file name in the current directory
and sub-directories.
Similarly you can apply other Unix commands on the files found using the find command. I will
add more examples as and when i found.

Delete Empty Lines Using Sed / Grep Command in Unix (or

Linux)
In Unix / Linux you can use the Sed / Grep command to remove empty lines from a file. For
example, Consider the below text file as input
> cat file.txt
Remove line using unix grep command
Delete lines using unix sed command
How it works

Now we will see how to remove the lines from the above file in unix / linux
1. Remove lines using unix sed command
The d command in sed can be used to delete the empty lines in a file.
sed '/^$/d' file.txt

Here the ^ specifies the start of the line and $ specifies the end of the line. You can redirect the
output of above command and write it into a new file.
sed '/^$/d' file.txt > no_empty_lines.txt

2. Delete lines using unix grep command

First we will see how to search for empty lines using grep command.
grep '^$' file.txt

Now we will use the -v option to the grep command to reverse the pattern matching
grep -v '^$' file.txt

The output of both sed and grep commands after deleting the empty lines from the file is
Remove line using unix grep command
Delete lines using unix sed command
How it works