NAME
rpl - replace strings in files
SYNOPSIS
rpl [-LhiwbqvsRepfdt] [-xSUFFIX] 〈old_string〉 〈new_string〉
〈target_file ...〉
DESCRIPTION
Basic usage is to specify two strings and one or more filenames or
directories on the command line. The first string is the string to
replace, and the second string is the replacement string.
-h, --help
A short help text.
-L, --license
Show the license and exit.
-xSUFFIX
Search only files ending with SUFFIX, e.g. “.txt”. May be
specified multiple times.
-i, --ignore-case
Ignore the case of old_string.
-w, --whole-words
Make old_string match only on word boundaries.
-b, --backup
Move the original files to filename~ before replacing them.
-q, --quiet
Quiet mode.
-v, --verbose
Verbose mode.
-s, --dry-run
Simulation mode, no files are changed.
-R, --recursive
Recurse into subdirectories.
-e, --escape
Expand escape sequences in old_string and new_string. Examples
of escape sequences are ‘\n’ (new-line), ‘\t’ (tab), ‘\x42’
(hexadecimal number 42), ‘\033’ (octal number 033).
-p, --prompt
Prompt for confirmation before replacing each file.
-f, --force
Ignore errors when trying to restore permissions and file
ownership.
-d, --keep-times
Keep modification times when replacing files.
-t, --use-tmpdir
Use a temporary directory for storing temporary files, usually
the value of the environment variable TMPDIR. The default is to
put temporary files in the same directory as the file being
modified.
-a, --all
Do not ignore files and directories starting with .
IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
An effort has been made to make the program behave as much as the
original rpl as necessary. Where it has been possible to make
improvements, improvements have been made. This implementation lacks
many of the bugs in the original.
EXAMPLES
Replace all occurences of “F” (on word boundaries) with “A” in all text
files under the grades/ directory:
$ rpl -Rwd -x’.txt’ ’F’ ’A’ grades/
SEE ALSO
find(1), sed(1).
HISTORY
This program was written for Debian as a free replacement for the non-
free rpl program by Joe Laffey.
AUTHORS
Göran Weinholt 〈weinholt@debian.org〉.