Sed to reverse two words echo "AXIS2C_HOME=/usr/local/Axis2C" | sed 's/\(^AXIS2C_HOME=\) \(.*\)/ \2 \1/' The output I am expecting is `/usr/local/Axis2C AXIS2C_HOME=`. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. :(

The trivial answer is "more backslashes, fewer spaces":


echo "AXIS2C_HOME=/usr/local/Axis2C" | sed 's/\(^AXIS2C_HOME=\)\(.*\)/\2 \1/'


But the broader answer is, "wait, what are you trying to do?" Do you want the key-value pairs to be split into useful variables, or are you really just trying to munge the input into the reverse syntax in order to feed it to something else?