12.1 Command-Line Syntax

The syntax for invoking sed has two forms:

sed  [options ] 'command' file(s) 
sed  [options ] -f  scriptfile file(s) 

The first form allows you to specify an editing command, surrounded by single quotes, on the command line. The second form allows you to specify a scriptfile, which is a file containing sed commands. If no files are specified, sed reads from standard input.

The following options are recognized:

-e cmd, --expression=cmd

Next argument is an editing command; not needed unless specifying two or more editing commands.

-f scriptfile, --file=scriptfile

Next argument is a file containing editing commands.

-n, --silent, --quiet

Suppress the default output; sed displays only those lines specified with the p command or with the p flag of the s command.

-V, --version

Display version number.

-h, --help

Display brief help message with command-line options.