Scott Silva wrote: > >>> >>>>> sed 's/^\([^ ]*[ ]*[^ ]*\)\([ ]*.*\)$/\1.contoso.com\2/' >>>>> >>>>> (where there's a space *and* a TAB inside each of the [ ] ) >>>>> >>>> The above version easier to read and "copy paste". Space is space >>>> and tabe is \t >>>> >>>> sed 's/^\([^ \t]*[ \t]*[^ \t]*\)\([ \t]*.*\)$/\1.contoso.com\2/' >>> >>> I grew up with versions of 'sed' that don't understand this new-fangled >>> method of specifying tabs, and write enough cross-platform code that >>> I can't rely on it (still doesn't work in Solaris 10, for example). >> >> perl can do anything sed can do and has almost no platform or version >> related syntax differences - plus it has \s to represent 'whitespace' >> and you don't have to bang your head on the wall when you are half >> done and realize you have to do something spanning multiple lines. >> > Show your example. Inquiring minds want to know! > perl -p -e 's/(\s+\S+)/$1.contoso.com /' That's "match one or more whitespace characters followed by one or more non-whitespace and add .contoso.com after whatever matched. -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com