"Today's post is going to be on a relatively basic subject that can elude a lot of folks who use sed casually. I, myself, for years, only used it to print out matched patterns or do pattern substitutions, but it's capable of much more than that. I don't think it's quite up there with awk (insofar as the programming functionality goes), but it does have lots of neat features (like letting you switch between the current and hold buffer, for example) that can sometimes make it the preferred tool for the job. Especially if you're like me and you're not attached to any one language or interpreter. My basic philosophy is: Whatever can get it done the fastest and most efficiently. I think it works nicely, as philosophies go, since I also compulsively automate everything..."
