recursive search & replace string in any file?

I'm just getting back into Unix after > 10 years away. I know I previously wrote a shell script that would recursively search through directories into each file for a particular string and replace it with something else. I just can't remember how to do this

I'm currently using ssh

Can anyone help me?

Assuming you have access to PERL, no need to write a script. You could use the "'PERL's of Wisdom", find and xargs. Like the following:



find . = will set up your recursive search. You can narrow your search to certain file by adding -name "*.ext" or limit buy using the same but add prune like -name "*.ext" -prune

xargs =sets it up like a command line for each file find finds and will invoke the next command which is perl.

perl = invoke perl
-p sets up a while loop
-i edit in place and the .bak will create a backup file like filename.ext.bak
-e execute the following....
's/ / /;' your basic substitute and replace.

just a suggestion....

Hi,
For recursive search u can used the following command
find . -print | xargs -i -t grep <enter search criteria> {}|more

for replacement purpose please use "sed" command.
See Man sed
Thanks
deb_dutta