> > sed -i -e 's/^[[:space:]]*' -e 's/[[:space:]]*$//' file ... why not use just (you can change the "-" separator to "/" as above): sed -e 's-^ *--g' -e 's- *$--g' usage examples: -> cat file| sed ... >file1 -> echo $variable| sed ... |grep xy -> if [ "`echo $xy|sed ...`" = "blabla bla" ]; then ... cu...