iltdel

iltdel is a command-line utility commonly found on Unix-like operating systems. It is used to delete lines from a file based on a specified pattern or line number. The command works by reading an input file, processing it line by line, and writing the modified content to standard output. By default, if no output file is specified, iltdel will print the results to the console.

The primary function of iltdel is to selectively remove lines that match a given criterion. This criterion can be a regular expression pattern or a specific line number. For instance, one might use iltdel to remove all lines containing a certain error message or to delete the first ten lines of a log file. The command offers flexibility in defining what constitutes a "match," allowing for complex pattern matching through regular expressions.

When using iltdel, users typically specify the input file and the pattern or line number to be deleted. The command processes the file sequentially. Lines that do not match the deletion criteria are passed through to the output. This makes iltdel a useful tool for data manipulation and text processing, particularly when dealing with large files where manual editing would be impractical. Its ability to operate non-destructively by default, printing to standard output, also allows for previewing changes before committing them to a file.