How can I delete all lines before a specific string from a number of files

Question

I have n files, like:

file1:

1aaa
2eee

Test        XXX
Hanna
Lars 

file2:

1fff
2ffffd
3zzz

Test        XXX
Mike
Charly         


        

Answer 1

cat <<-EOF > file1.txt
1aaa
2eee

Test        XXX
Hanna
Lars
EOF

cat file1.txt | sed -e '/Test *XXX/p' -e '0,/Test *XXX/d'

Output:

Test        XXX
Hanna
Lars

Explanation:

• -e '/Test *XXX/p' duplicates the line matching /Test *XXX/
• -e '0,/Test *XXX/d' deletes from line 0 to the first line matching /Test *XXX/

By duplicating the line, then removing the first one, we effectively retain the matched line, successfully deleting all lines BEFORE Test XXX

Note: this will not work as expected if there are multiple Test XXX lines.