rpl(1) LAFFEY Computer Imaging rpl(1)
July 22, 2002
NAME
rpl (RePLace) - replace strings in multiple files
VERSION
1.4.0
SYNOPSIS
rpl [-iwRspfdtx [-q|-v]] <old_str> <new_str> <target_file(s)>
DESCRIPTION
rpl replaces old_str with new_str in all target files. It returns the
number of strings replaced or a system error code (non-zero) if there
is an error.
Note that you should put strings in single quotes if they contain
spaces. You must also escape all shell meta-characters. It's a good
idea to put ALL strings in single quotes.
rpl will attempt to maintain the owner, group and permissions of your
original files. For safety, rpl creates a temporary file and makes
changes to that file. It then moves the temporary file over the
original file. rpl sets the owner, group, and permissions of the new
file to match those of the original file. In some circumstances rpl
will not be able to do this (such as when a file is owned by the
superuser but you have group write permission). In these cases rpl
will warn you that the owner/group or permissions cannot be set and
that file will be skipped, unless you use the force (-f) option. Note
that the use of temp files in predictable, world-writeable locations
could lead to symlink attacks. Ideally you should set the $TMPDIR
environment variable to a private directory readable and writeable
only by you. This is especially important if running rpl as root. You
have been warned!
Normally, rpl will change the modification time of all files it
processes like any other program. However, you may instruct rpl to
keep the original modification times using the -d (Don't alter mod-
times) option.
You can specify file suffixes to be searched using the -x option. Any
files that do not match the specified suffixes will not be searched or
modified. The -x option may be used more than once to tell rpl to
search files with varying suffixes. For instance, say you wanted to
search all of your ".html", ".htm", and ".php" files you would add
" -x'.html' -x'.htm' -x'.php' "
to your command line. rpl would then skip any files that did not end
with these suffixes. This is mainly useful when doing recursive
searching (-R option).
- 1 - Formatted: November 8, 2025
rpl(1) LAFFEY Computer Imaging rpl(1)
July 22, 2002
OPTIONS
-i Ignore case of old_str
rpl will match the old_str in the searched file regardless of the
case. The case of new_str will not be altered.
-w Whole words (old_str bounded by white space in file)
rpl will only match old_str if it is bounded by the start of a
line, a space, a tab, or the end of a line.
-q Quiet mode (no output at all)
Good for shell scripts, etc.
-v Verbose mode (lots of output)
rpl will list the name of each file and directory, and the line
numbers that contain matches.
-R Search directories recursively
rpl will scan every file and every directory recursively. Without
this option directories will be skipped.
-x Specify file suffixes to search. (e.g. ".html", ".c", etc.) May
be used multiple times. See above for details.
-p Prompt for each file
rpl will prompt you before scanning each file. If you respond 'N'
or 'n' rpl will skip that file and move on to the next file. The
default action if you press enter is to process the file.
-s Simulation mode
rpl will scan all of the files and list the names of files that
it would modify if a replace operation was executed. If you turn
on the verbose (-v) option as well rpl will list the line numbers
where the string is matched.
-e Honor Escapes
rpl will honor escape sequences in old_string and "e(carriage
return)darecprocessed,aas"wellaas,any octalior)hexidecimal ASCII
codes. Octal ASCII codes start with a '' and are comprised of
three digits [0-7] (e.g. ' 15'). Hexidecimal ASCII codes start
with ' x' followed by two characters [0-f] (e.g. ' x0d'). The 'x'
and the [a-f] may be upper or lowercase. When you use this switch
you must escape all backslash ('') characters with another
backslash (e.g. '\').
-f Force mode
rpl will overwrite files even if the owner, group, or permissions
of the new file will not match the original. Obviously, rpl
cannot overwrite files if the user does not have write
permission.
- 2 - Formatted: November 8, 2025
rpl(1) LAFFEY Computer Imaging rpl(1)
July 22, 2002
-d Don't change modification times
rpl will process files, but keep their original modification
times.
-t Use $TMPDIR for temporary files
Causes rpl to write temporary files to the directory specified by
the environment variable $TMPDIR instead of writing the temp
files to the original file dir. (See note above about symlink
attacks and temp files.)
-L Display the software license
This displays the software license that you agree to by using
rpl.
-h Display a brief summary of options
BUGS
Report bugs to software@laffeycomputer.com
TODO
Grep pattern matching.
An option to backup the original file.
If you would like to see this or other enhancements send e-mail to
software@laffeycomputer.com
CONTRIBUTORS
Original code:
Joe Laffey <software@laffeycomputer.com>
Other contributors include:
Devrim Erdem <devrim@infotron-tr.com>
Many thanks to the beta testers who sent in valuable feedback!
- 3 - Formatted: November 8, 2025
