
Sed -i - 10165
-i is a &quot;non-standard FreeBSD extension&quot;<p>I have never understood the use for it.  To save typing?<p>If we deny sed permission to write to any other file will it still work?<p>Could it be that there is an ephemeral temp file created?  ed makes them, vi makes them.  Is sed different?<p>What if the filesystem is a ramdisk?  Does -i make any practical difference then?  I always use a ramdisk as my filesystem.<p>I always found it easier to just avoid -i<p>This way I get portability.<p>The above applies only to BSD sed.<p>Not sure if GNU sed ever lacked the -i extension.
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viraptor
For convenience. And script clarity. If you have a move after standard sed,
half of the commands in that group are for housekeeping. Sed -i makes the line
more explicit.

