Master Deleting Lines with sed: Simple Commands for Precise Text Editing

Using sed to Delete Lines

sed is a versatile stream editor in Linux for text manipulation. This guide shows how to delete lines in various ways.

Delete Specific Lines

To delete a single line, use the line number with the d command: sed '3d' filename Replace 3 with the desired line number.

To delete a range of lines, specify start and end numbers separated by a comma:

sed '3,5d' filename

Delete Empty Lines

Remove all blank lines with a regular expression that matches the start and end of a line with nothing between them:

sed '/^$/d' filename

Delete Lines Matching a Pattern

Delete any line that contains a given pattern by using the pattern before the d command:

sed '/pattern/d' filename

In‑Place Editing

By default, sed writes the result to standard output. To modify the original file directly, add the -i option: sed -i '3d' filename Be cautious with -i because it overwrites the file without prompting.

For more advanced text processing, consult the sed manual for additional commands and options.