What can be used in command line to replace a line starting with "something" in a text file.

I have a text file that looks something like this:

118 => some text …
120 => some text …
121 => some text …
130 => some text …

What I’m trying to do is to replace a line starting with lets say “120” with different text for example “120 => some other text”.  Is there an easy way to do this, perhaps with sed, and what would the command look like.

Thanks,
Kate
kasiencjaAsked:
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TintinConnect With a Mentor Commented:
or to be a little stricter

sed "s/^120 =>.*/120 => some other text/" file >newfile

The ^ means start of line
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TintinCommented:
sed "s/120 =>.*/120 => some other text/" file >newfile
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kasiencjaAuthor Commented:
Is it possible to make the changes within the same file, instead of having to write to a newfile?

Thanks,
Kate
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TintinCommented:
Depends on your Unix/Linux version.  If your sed version has the -i flag, you can do

sed -i "s/^120 =>.*/120 => some other text/" file

if not you can do

sed "s/^120 =>.*/120 => some other text/" file >/tmp/$$ && mv /tmp/$$ file

or you can use perl
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kasiencjaAuthor Commented:
Awesome! Thanks!
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