Pattern Matching

🔍 Pattern Matching Guide

Historical page (sr 6.x). It documents the Bash implementation, which sr 7 replaced with a Python rewrite and a different command line. Nothing below applies to 7.x; the page is kept for reference. Current documentation: Home, Installation, Quick-Start and sr help (27 topics). The text below is unchanged.

Comprehensive guide to file pattern matching in sr.

Overview

sr uses shell glob patterns to match files for processing. Understanding these patterns is essential for effective use.

Basic Glob Patterns

Pattern	Description	Example
*	Matches any characters in filename	*.txt matches all .txt files
**	Matches any files recursively	**/*.js matches all .js files in any subdirectory
?	Matches any single character	file?.txt matches file1.txt, fileA.txt
{a,b}	Matches either a or b	*.{js,ts} matches .js and .ts files
[abc]	Matches any character in set	file[123].txt matches file1.txt, file2.txt, file3.txt

File Pattern Examples

Match by Extension

# Single extension
sr "*.txt" "search" "replace"

# Multiple extensions (brace expansion)
sr "*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}" "search" "replace"

# Specific prefix and extension
sr "config*.yml" "search" "replace"

Recursive Patterns

# All .js files recursively
sr "**/*.js" "search" "replace"

# All files in src directory
sr "src/**/*" "search" "replace"

# All config files recursively
sr "**/config/*.{yml,yaml,json}" "search" "replace"

Non-Recursive Patterns

# Only current directory (use -nr flag)
sr -nr "*.txt" "search" "replace"

# Specific directory depth
sr -md 2 "**/*.conf" "search" "replace"

Argument Modes

sr supports three distinct argument processing modes:

Mode 1: Standard 3-Argument (Recommended)

sr "PATTERN" "SEARCH" "REPLACE"
# Example:
sr "*.js" "function old" "function new"

Mode 2: Standard 2-Argument

# Uses default pattern: *.*
sr "SEARCH" "REPLACE"
# Example:
sr "localhost" "production-host"

Mode 3: Explicit File List

# Process specific files (not patterns)
sr file1.txt file2.txt "SEARCH" "REPLACE"
# Example:
sr index.html about.html "Copyright 2020" "Copyright 2025"

Exclusion Patterns

# Exclude specific directories
sr -xd node_modules,dist,vendor "**/*.js" "search" "replace"

# Exclude specific file patterns
sr -xp "*.min.js" "**/*.js" "search" "replace"

# Exclude hidden files
sr -xh "**/*" "search" "replace"

# Limit file size (skip large files)
sr -xs 10 "*.log" "search" "replace"  # Skip files > 10MB

Depth Control

# Limit recursion depth
sr -md 3 "**/*.js" "search" "replace"  # Max 3 levels deep

# Non-recursive (current directory only)
sr -nr "*.txt" "search" "replace"

Important Notes

• Always quote patterns: Use sr "*.txt" not sr *.txt to prevent shell expansion
• Patterns are processed by sr using find, not the shell
• Backup directories (sr.backup.*) are automatically excluded
• Hidden directories (.git, .svn) are excluded by default

Related Topics

• Regular Expressions - Advanced pattern matching with regex
• Command Reference - Complete option listing
• Basic Examples - Practical examples