On 03/26/2010 02:02 PM, Joseph L. Casale wrote: >> I think there is a way to do it in sed using the holding space, but it's so much >> easier in perl that I never bothered to learn the hard parts. What's the >> problem with using perl anyway? > > No problem, just thought there was a sexier way to do it then my ugly way. The > Perl solution would be just as long if it were a one liner, so I'll just shove > it into a shell script I guess. i you're worried about slurping the whole file perl -pe '/# comment/ and $c=1; $c and s/service-one/foo-bar/g' \ test_file.txt works for me slurping the whole files and replacing inline (with backups) you could do perl -i.save -0777 -pe \ 's/(# comment)(.*)(service-one)/$1$2 foobar/msg' file1 file2 ... K -- Kahlil (Kal) Hodgson GPG: C37B01F4 Head of Technology (m) +61 (0) 4 2573 0382 DealMax Pty Ltd (w) +61 (0) 3 9008 5281 Suite 1005 401 Docklands Drive Docklands VIC 3008 Australia "All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer." -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925