Linux and Unix replace command
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About replace
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The replace utility program changes strings in place in files or on the standard input.
replace from to [from to] ... -- file_name [file_name] ...
replace
from to [from to] ... < file_name
| from | represents a string to look for and to represents its replacement. There can be one or more pairs of strings. |
| -- | Use
the -- option to indicate where the string-replacement list ends and
the file names begin. In this case, any file named on the command
line is modified in place, so you may want to make a copy of the
original before converting it. replace prints a message indicating
which of the input files it actually modifies. If the -- option is not given, replace reads the standard input and writes to the standard output. |
| -?, -I | Display a help message and exit. |
| -#debug_options | Enable debugging. |
| -s | Silent mode. Print less information what the program does. |
| -v | Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does. |
| -V | Display version information and exit. |
Tip: The replace command is primarily used with msql2mysql although can still be used for a way to replace text within a file or input. If you're looking for a more advanced solution for replacing test within Linux we also suggest using the sed command.
replace "computer" "hope" -- example.txt
Replace the word 'computer' with the word 'hope' in the example.txt file.