>The "a" command expects to be followed by a "\", so it's eating the >one in your first "\t". If you add another "\" it seems to work as you >want it to: > >$ echo string | sed '/string/a \\tstuff\t\t\tmorestuff' >string > stuff morestuff >$ Ah ffs, lol... It would also help if I emailed what I was typing. I use so many versions, I get mixed up. I typed the email with <'> but wrote <"> in the console which is why I couldn't make it work. '/string/a \\tstuff\t\t\tmorestuff' != "/string/a \\tstuff\t\t\tmorestuff" Thanks Filipe! jlc