delete the last 2 characters from a text file: shell script

Question

I need to delete the last 2 characters from a text file in shell script. Any idea about how I can do it?

Accepted Answer

Delete the last two characters on the last line only with `sed`:

```
$ sed '$s/..$//' file
```

If you are happy with changes then use `-i` to store them back to the file:

```
$ sed -i '$s/..$//' file
```

If you wanted to delete the last two characters on every line it would be:

```
$ sed 's/..$//' file
```

Again use `-i` to store the changes back to the file:

```
$ sed -i 's/..$//' file
```

Solution