ttp://www.cs.hmc.edu/tech_docs/qref/sed.html#basics sed 's#.*/\([^/]*\)/.*#\1#' 's# .*/\([^/]*\)/.* # \1 #' special characters that need a / before use = .*[]^$\ s = subsitude # = delimiters .* = match everyting until next part /\([^/]*\)/ = [^/] = subsitue everyting that is not / .* = match everyting until the end