rex-text-tool

Rex is a shell tool for processing text files using regular expressions. Two specific tools are provided: a substitution tool (similar to rpl or sed and vi's 's///' (subst) commands) and a parsing tool which can be used to parse fields out of an input string and format them (similar to cut but using regular expressions). Extended regular expressions are used in all cases.

Rex's substitution tool supports a 'preview' mode in which the changes that would be made are displayed in a diff-like format but no changes are actually made. The substitution tool can also create backups of the original files.

Rex's parsing tool can format its output in several different ways including user-defined formats. Notable formats are the SHELL variable-like syntax (designed for 'sourcing' into the shell) and the CSV format.

Please see the help text (rex --help) and/or the wiki for complete details.