sed(1) allows you to give the script on the command line like this: sed -e 'script' file1 > file2 Some of the sed commands, like a\ and i\ seem to need additional lines of input. I know that if I use the "-f sedfile" option I can stash the commands in a file, but is there a way I can use "append" and "insert" with the -e option? -- Jeff Percival ...!uwvax!uwmacc!jwp