sd

name	sd
description	Use this skill when the user wants to find and replace text in files, especially with regex patterns, or when they need an easier alternative to sed for text transformation.

sd Plugin

Intuitive find & replace CLI — sed alternative with regex support. ~11x faster than sed.

Commands

Find & Replace

• sd replace file — Find and replace in a file (in-place)
• sd replace run — Find and replace across one or more files
• sd replace preview — Preview changes in a file without modifying
• sd replace fixed — Fixed string mode (no regex), in-place
• sd replace across — Cross-line matching (dot matches newlines), in-place
• sd self version — Print sd version

Args (all structured commands)

• --find — Pattern (regex, or literal string for fixed)
• --replace — Replacement string (supports capture groups: $1, $2)
• --file — File to operate on
• --files — File(s) for replace run

Usage Examples

• "Replace 'foo' with 'bar' in a file"
• "Preview changes before modifying"
• "Replace with regex capture groups"
• "Literal string replace (no regex escaping)"
• "Match across lines in a file"

Installation

cargo install sd
sc plugins install ./plugins/sd --on-conflict replace --json

sc Command Examples

# In-place replacement
sc sd replace file --find "before" --replace "after" --file config.txt

# Preview (no modification)
sc sd replace preview --find "before" --replace "after" --file config.txt

# Fixed literal string (no regex)
sc sd replace fixed --find "hello.world" --replace "hi" --file config.txt

# Capture groups
sc sd replace file --find "(\w+)=(\w+)" --replace "$1: $2" --file env.txt

# Multi-file (via replace run)
sc sd replace run --find "oldname" --replace "newname" --files "*.txt"

# Cross-line (dot matches \n)
sc sd replace across --find "hello.world" --replace "hi universe" --file data.txt

Raw sd examples (via passthrough)

# Trim trailing whitespace
echo "lorem ipsum 23   " | sd '\s+$' ''

# Capture groups on stdin
echo "cargo +nightly watch" | sd '(\w+)\s+\+(\w+)\s+(\w+)' 'cmd: $1, channel: $2, subcmd: $3'

Key Features

• Intuitive syntax (no /g flag needed, replaces all by default)
• JS/Python regex syntax (friendlier than POSIX)
• ~11x faster than sed
• Supports $1, $2 capture group references
• -f s flag makes . match newlines (cross-line patterns)
• -F flag for literal string matching (no regex escaping needed)