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Sedmat: Sed-like Document Formatting

Sedmat is a sed-inspired DSL for formatting Google Docs. It uses brace syntax {key=value} as its canonical format, with legacy Markdown shortcuts for convenience.

Full spec: sedmat.org

gog docs sed <DOC_ID> '<expression>'             # single expression
gog docs sed <DOC_ID> -f expressions.sed          # batch from file
gog docs sed <DOC_ID> -f seed.txt -p              # paste seed content
gog docs sed <DOC_ID> '<expr>' --dry-run          # preview without applying
echo 's/foo/{b}bar/' | gog docs sed <DOC_ID>      # pipe from stdin
gog docs sed <DOC_ID> <<'EOF'                      # heredoc
s/title/{h=t}My Report/
s/draft/{b c=green}final/
EOF

Brace Syntax (Canonical)

The brace DSL is the primary way to format text. Braces go before the text by default:

s/text/{b}hello/                     # braces before (default)
s/text/hello{b}/                     # braces after — same result
s/text/{c=red}warning{b}/           # before and after

Boolean Flags

Key Long Effect
b bold Bold
i italic Italic
_ underline Underline
- strike Strikethrough
# code Monospace (Courier New + grey bg)
^ sup Superscript
, sub Subscript
w smallcaps Small Caps

Negate with !: {!b} removes bold, {!i} removes italic.

s/hello/{b}hello/                    # bold
s/world/{i _}world/                  # italic + underline
s/note/{b i}note/                    # bold + italic
s/draft/{-}draft/                    # strikethrough
s/code/{#}code/                      # monospace
s/TM/{^}TM/                         # superscript
s/H2O/H2O — {,}2/                   # subscript
s/Title/{w}Title/                    # small caps
s/loud/{!b}loud/                     # remove bold

Key=Value Properties

Key Long Value Effect
c color hex/name Text color
z bg hex/name Background/highlight
f font name Font family
s size pt Font size
u url URL Hyperlink
h heading 1-6/t/s Heading level (t=title, s=subtitle)
a align left/center/right Paragraph alignment
l leading pt Line spacing
n indent pt Indentation
o opacity 0-100 Text opacity
k kerning pt Letter spacing
p spacing before,after Paragraph spacing (pt)
e effect name Text effect
x width px Image width
y height px Image height 
s/error/{c=red}error/                # red text
s/warning/{z=#FFFF00}warning/        # yellow highlight
s/title/{f=Georgia s=24}title/       # Georgia 24pt
s/heading/{h=2}heading/              # Heading 2
s/TITLE/{h=t}TITLE/                  # Title style
s/click here/{u=https:\/\/example.com}click here/  # hyperlink
s/para/{a=center}para/               # center align
s/note/{p=12,6}note/                 # 12pt before, 6pt after
s/fine/{o=50}fine/                   # 50% opacity

Combos

Combine any flags and properties in one brace block:

s/heading/{b f=Montserrat s=18}heading/
s/title/{h=3 f=Playfair+Display s=22 c=#333333}title/
s/link/{b i u=https:\/\/example.com}link/

Clear Formatting

s/messy/{0}messy/                    # strip all formatting

Bookmarks & Internal Links

s/Chapter 1/{@=ch1}Chapter 1/       # create bookmark anchor
s/see chapter 1/{u=#ch1}see chapter 1/  # link to bookmark

Structural Commands (Brace)

Breaks

s/PAGEBREAK/{+=p}PAGEBREAK/         # page break
s/COLBREAK/{+=c}COLBREAK/           # column break
s/SECBREAK/{+=s}SECBREAK/           # section break

Tables

s/placeholder/{T=4x3}placeholder/           # 4 rows × 3 cols
s/placeholder/{T=4x3:header}placeholder/    # with header row

Checkboxes

s/task/{check}task/                  # unchecked checkbox
s/done/{check=y}done/               # checked
s/todo/{check=n}todo/               # explicitly unchecked

Images

s/placeholder/{img=https:\/\/example.com\/photo.jpg}placeholder/
s/placeholder/{img=https:\/\/example.com\/photo.jpg x=400}placeholder/
s/placeholder/{img=https:\/\/example.com\/photo.jpg x=200 y=68}placeholder/

Legacy Markdown Syntax

Markdown shortcuts are supported for convenience. The brace syntax is preferred.

Headings

s/text/# Heading 1/
s/text/## Heading 2/
s/text/### Heading 3/
s/text/#### Heading 4/
s/text/##### Heading 5/
s/text/###### Heading 6/

Inline Styles

s/text/**bold**/
s/text/*italic*/
s/text/***bold italic***/
s/text/~~strikethrough~~/
s/text/`monospace`/
s/text/__underline__/
s/text/^{superscript}/
s/text/~{subscript}/

Links & Images

s/text/[link text](https:\/\/example.com)/
s/placeholder/![alt](https:\/\/example.com\/img.png)/
s/placeholder/![alt](https:\/\/example.com\/img.png =400x200)/

Lists

s/text/- bullet item/
s/text/1. numbered item/
s/text/  - nested bullet (2 spaces per level)/
s/text/- [ ] unchecked checkbox/
s/text/- [x] checked checkbox/

Blocks

s/text/---/                          # horizontal rule
s/text/> blockquote text/

Code Blocks

s/text/```\ncode line 1\ncode line 2\n```/

Footnotes

s/text/Some claim[^1]/
s/FOOTNOTE/[^1]: Source citation/

Pipe Tables

s/placeholder/| Col A | Col B |\n| data1 | data2 |/

Sed Commands

Substitution

s/pattern/replacement/               # first match
s/pattern/replacement/g              # all matches (global)
s/pattern/replacement/i              # case-insensitive
s/pattern/replacement/2              # nth match only
s/pattern/replacement/m              # multiline (^/$ match line boundaries)
s/pattern/replacement/gi             # combine flags

Delete, Append, Insert, Transliterate

d/pattern/                           # delete lines matching pattern
a/pattern/new text/                  # append text after matching lines
i/pattern/new text/                  # insert text before matching lines
y/abc/xyz/                           # transliterate a→x, b→y, c→z

Back-references

s/(important)/{b}$1/                 # capture + format
s/([A-Z]{2,})/{b}$1/g               # bold all caps words
s/"([^"]+)"/{i}$1/g                 # italicize quoted text
s/hello/{b}&/                        # & = whole match

Positional Insert

s/^$/Initial content/                # empty doc only
s/^/Prepended text\n/                # beginning of doc
s/$/\nAppended text/                 # end of doc

Table Operations

Tables are numbered in document order (1-indexed). Use |-1| for last, |*| for all.

Cell References

s/|1|[1,1]/{b}Header/               # row 1, col 1
s/|1|[2,3]/value/                    # row 2, col 3
s/|1|[1,*]/{b}&/                     # bold entire row (wildcard)
s/|1|[*,2]/data/                     # set entire column

Add Rows & Columns

s/|1|[+1,0]//                        # append row
s/|1|[0,+1]//                        # append column

Merge & Split

s/|1|[1,1:1,3]/merge/               # merge cells row1 col1-3
s/|1|[2,2]/split/                    # split merged cell

Delete Tables

s/|1|//                              # delete first table
s/|*|//                              # delete all tables

Image References

s/!(1)/!(https:\/\/new.png)/         # replace 1st image
s/!(-1)//                            # delete last image
s/!(*)/!(https:\/\/placeholder.png)/g  # replace all images
s/![logo]/!(https:\/\/new-logo.png)/ # match by alt text

Batch Mode

Create a .sed file with one expression per line. Comments start with #.

# format-doc.sed
s/QQQ_TITLE/{h=t}Report Title/
s/QQQ_AUTHOR/{i c=gray}John Doe/
s/QQQ_DATE/2026-02-22/

# Apply
gog docs sed <DOC_ID> -a <account> -f format-doc.sed

Seed + Format Workflow

  1. Clear the doc: gog docs clear <DOC_ID> -a <account>
  2. Insert seed via positional insert: gog docs sed <DOC_ID> -f seed.sed -a <account>
  3. Format it: gog docs sed <DOC_ID> -f format.sed -a <account>

Options

Flag Effect
-f <file> Read expressions from file (batch mode)
-p Paste mode (insert file content as text)
-n / --dry-run Preview without applying changes
-a <account> Google account to use

See Also

  • gog docs clear — Clear all content from a document
  • gog docs edit — Simple find/replace without regex
  • gog docs get — Export document content
  • gog docs images list — List images in document
  • sedmat.org — Full Sedmat specification