a multi-file hierarchical "find and replace" that plays nice with spaces in names.

replace recursive

#!/bin/bash

startdirectory="/Users/jamesnesfield/Desktop/replaceTest/"
searchterm="foo"
replaceterm="bar"
i=0

IFS=$'\n';
for file in $( grep -l -R $searchterm $startdirectory)
do 
        ((i++))
        echo $file 
        sed -e "s/$searchterm/$replaceterm/g" "$file" > /tmp/tempfile.tmp
        mv /tmp/tempfile.tmp $file
done

echo "done. changed $i files."