Pattern used: find . -name "*.cxx" -exec sed -i 's/\( *\)\(else if\|if\) *( *\([^!()|&]*\)\.equalsAsciiL( *RTL_CONSTASCII_STRINGPARAM *( *\([^)]*\)) *) *)$/\1\2 ( \3 == \4 )/' \{\} \;