Steven Maddox writes: > I want to do this on a massive scale, it would mean opening up every text > file on the file system! - i.e. I want to -on mass- rename something > unique in all configuration files mentioning it As others have mentioned this is exactly the sort of problem sed was invented to solve, but _why_ do you want to do this? There may be a better way of reaching your goal. -- John Hasler