rpl(1) rpl(1)
NAME
rpl (RePLace) - replace strings in multiple files
VERSION
1.4.0
SYNOPSIS
rpl [-iwRspfdtx [-q|-v]] <old_str> <new_str> <target_file(s)>
DESCRIPTION
rpl replaces old_str with new_str in all target files. It returns the
number of strings replaced or a system error code (non-zero) if there
is an error.
Note that you should put strings in single quotes if they contain spa-
ces. You must also escape all shell meta-characters. It's a good idea
to put ALL strings in single quotes.
rpl will attempt to maintain the owner, group and permissions of your
original files. For safety, rpl creates a temporary file and makes
changes to that file. It then moves the temporary file over the origi-
nal file. rpl sets the owner, group, and permissions of the new file
to match those of the original file. In some circumstances rpl will
not be able to do this (such as when a file is owned by the superuser
but you have group write permission). In these cases rpl will warn you
that the owner/group or permissions cannot be set and that file will be
skipped, unless you use the force (-f) option. Note that the use of
temp files in predictable, world-writeable locations could lead to sym-
link attacks. Ideally you should set the $TMPDIR environment variable
to a private directory readable and writeable only by you. This is
especially important if running rpl as root. You have been warned!
Normally, rpl will change the modification time of all files it pro-
cesses like any other program. However, you may instruct rpl to keep
the original modification times using the -d (Don't alter mod-times)
option.
You can specify file suffixes to be searched using the -x option. Any
files that do not match the specified suffixes will not be searched or
modified. The -x option may be used more than once to tell rpl to
search files with varying suffixes. For instance, say you wanted to
search all of your ".html", ".htm", and ".php" files you would add
" -x'.html' -x'.htm' -x'.php' "
to your command line. rpl would then skip any files that did not end
with these suffixes. This is mainly useful when doing recursive search-
ing (-R option).
OPTIONS
-i Ignore case of old_str
rpl will match the old_str in the searched file regardless of
the case. The case of new_str will not be altered.
-w Whole words (old_str bounded by white space in file)
rpl will only match old_str if it is bounded by the start of a
line, a space, a tab, or the end of a line.
-q Quiet mode (no output at all)
Good for shell scripts, etc.
-v Verbose mode (lots of output)
rpl will list the name of each file and directory, and the line
numbers that contain matches.
-R Search directories recursively
rpl will scan every file and every directory recursively. With-
out this option directories will be skipped.
-x Specify file suffixes to search. (e.g. ".html", ".c", etc.) May
be used multiple times. See above for details.
-p Prompt for each file
rpl will prompt you before scanning each file. If you respond
'N' or 'n' rpl will skip that file and move on to the next file.
The default action if you press enter is to process the file.
-s Simulation mode
rpl will scan all of the files and list the names of files that
it would modify if a replace operation was executed. If you turn
on the verbose (-v) option as well rpl will list the line num-
bers where the string is matched.
-e Honor Escapes
rpl will honor escape sequences in old_string and "e(carriage
Standard escapes such as "" (tab), "0 (newline), "
return) are processed, as well as any octal or hexidecimal ASCII
codes. Octal ASCII codes start with a '' and are comprised of
three digits [0-7] (e.g. ' 15'). Hexidecimal ASCII codes start
with ' x' followed by two characters [0-f] (e.g. ' x0d'). The
'x' and the [a-f] may be upper or lowercase. When you use this
switch you must escape all backslash ('') characters with
another backslash (e.g. '\').
-f Force mode
rpl will overwrite files even if the owner, group, or permis-
sions of the new file will not match the original. Obviously,
rpl cannot overwrite files if the user does not have write per-
mission.
-d Don't change modification times
rpl will process files, but keep their original modification
times.
-t Use $TMPDIR for temporary files
Causes rpl to write temporary files to the directory specified
by the environment variable $TMPDIR instead of writing the temp
files to the original file dir. (See note above about symlink
attacks and temp files.)
-L Display the software license
This displays the software license that you agree to by using
rpl.
-h Display a brief summary of options
BUGS
Report bugs to software@laffeycomputer.com
TODO
Grep pattern matching.
An option to backup the original file.
If you would like to see this or other enhancements send e-mail to
software@laffeycomputer.com
CONTRIBUTORS
Original code:
Joe Laffey <software@laffeycomputer.com>
Other contributors include:
Devrim Erdem <devrim@infotron-tr.com>
Many thanks to the beta testers who sent in valuable feedback!
LAFFEY Computer Imaging July 22, 2002 rpl(1)
rpl 1.4.1 - Generated Sun Sep 28 10:36:47 CDT 2008