How to Use sed and awk to Modify Config Files in Linux

Linux configuration files are often plain text, which makes them easily editable using command-line tools. Among the most powerful of these are sed and awk.

While beginners may rely on manual editing with vi or nano, experienced system administrators frequently turn to these tools for automated parsing and rewriting of configuration files.

These tools allow you to match patterns, extract fields, and even make real-time changes to configuration files all from the command line or scripts.

In this article, we will explore how to use sed and awk to read, parse, and rewrite config files effectively. We’ll walk through practical examples that can help automate tedious tasks like updating IP addresses, changing parameters, or extracting values.