Tom McCubbin <mailto:tmccubbin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> : >> echo 'http://www.*r*pad.o*r*g/Rpad/R-*r*efca*r*d.pdf' | sed 's/\*//g' True, but awk-ward (sorry) for those without Un*x skills; why not just stay in R .. . >gsub('*','','http://www.*r*pad.o*r*g/Rpad/R-*r*efca*r*d.pdf',ex=F) [1] "http://www.rpad.org/Rpad/R-refcard.pdf";