>> echo xaaabababbbxaabbbabx | sed -e :a -e 's/ab//' -e ta Thank you. Fergus -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/