replace 2.24
by Richard K. Lloyd
<replace@richardlloyd.org.uk>
http://replace.richardlloyd.org.uk/
Dedicated to everyone who hates sed
You know, I looked around the Net back in 1994 and I was really surprised
that I couldn't find a sensible "replace" command (not true any more - the
"rpl" command has come on the scene to rival this program, but I hope you'll
use this one instead !).
This was probably because most UNIX hackers say "we've got sed, what do we need
a replace command for ?". Well, my reply is that the sed syntax is disgraceful
and totally user-hostile. It's also quite likely to come up with
"sed: command garbled" and fail to send ANYTHING to stdout, meaning you
end up wrecking your file if you try to call sed via a small shell script
interface.
So I cooked up this "replace" command - it's been pretty straightforward to
write, although if you check out the FEATURES file, you'll see it now has many
additional features that sed doesn't.
NOTE: I cannot be sure that "replace" is totally bug-free. I accept no
responsibility for the possible irreversible overwriting of files
(especially with "replace -f") - I would recommend you try it on
a copy of a few of your important files before you dare to use
"replace -f".
Anyway, I'll leave you to read the man page and enjoy.
Please see HPUX.Install for the full installation instructions.
