'\" t
.\"     Title: sponge
.\"    Author: Joey Hess
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets vsnapshot <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 2006-02-19
.\"    Manual: moreutils
.\"    Source: moreutils
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "SPONGE" "1" "2006\-02\-19" "moreutils" "moreutils"
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.SH "NAME"
sponge \- soak up standard input and write to a file
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.HP \w'\fBsed\ \*(Aq\&.\&.\&.\*(Aq\ file\ |\ grep\ \*(Aq\&.\&.\&.\*(Aq\ |\ sponge\ [\-a]\ file\fR\ 'u
\fBsed \*(Aq\&.\&.\&.\*(Aq file | grep \*(Aq\&.\&.\&.\*(Aq | sponge [\-a] file\fR
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
\fBsponge\fR
reads standard input and writes it out to the specified file\&. Unlike a shell redirect,
\fBsponge\fR
soaks up all its input before writing the output file\&. This allows constructing pipelines that read from and write to the same file\&.
.PP
\fBsponge\fR
preserves the permissions of the output file if it already exists\&.
.PP
When possible,
\fBsponge\fR
creates or updates the output file atomically by renaming a temp file into place\&. (This cannot be done if TMPDIR is not in the same filesystem\&.)
.PP
If the output file is a special file or symlink, the data will be written to it, non\-atomically\&.
.PP
If no file is specified,
\fBsponge\fR
outputs to stdout\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
\fB\-a\fR
.RS 4
Replace the file with a new file that contains the file\*(Aqs original content, with the standard input appended to it\&. This is done atomically when possible\&.
.RE
.SH "AUTHOR"
.PP
Colin Watson and Tollef Fog Heen