sed: Introduction

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1 1 Introduction
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1 'sed' is a stream editor.  A stream editor is used to perform basic text
1 transformations on an input stream (a file or input from a pipeline).
1 While in some ways similar to an editor which permits scripted edits
1 (such as 'ed'), 'sed' works by making only one pass over the input(s),
1 and is consequently more efficient.  But it is 'sed''s ability to filter
1 text in a pipeline which particularly distinguishes it from other types
1 of editors.
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