I need to modify a .reg file, and replace all occurences with
'InsertPathHere' (That is the literal string) with the current working
directory. I need to do this from within a batch file without user
interaction, and I need to use only freeware. This is so that I can
add path entries to the registry from a drive with a variable drive
letter (a USB drive). The result needs only work on Windows 2000 and
XP, but it might come in handy to be able to use it on ME/98 in the
future.

I have faced quite a bit of difficulty finding a freeware utility to
do this for me because, although I may find something that does search
and replace, it does it on full lines only or can not substitute text
within a string.

Input text example: InsertPathHereBlah.dll
Output example: E:\\Moo\\Blah.dll

Download "sed" from here:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gnuwin32/sed-4.1.4.exe?download

Install to whatever directory you want, I installed to C:\GnuWin32

sed.exe will be in C:\GnuWin32\bin

In your batch file insert the following commands:

set PATH=C:\GnuWin32\bin;%PATH%
sed -e "s/InsertPathHere/E:\\Moo\\Blah\\/g" inputfile.txt > %TEMP%\tmpfile.out
copy tmpfile.out inputfile.txt

If you want to copy sed.exe to removable storage, be sure to also get
the following files:

C:\GnuWin32\bin\libintl3.dll
C:\GnuWin32\bin\libiconv2.dll

http://www.resplendence.com/registrar_features_search
Resplendent Registrar offers a fast and convenient way to search the
registry or  a specified key for text occurrences. Matching items can
optionally be replaced with other text, deleted, or  exported to a
registry file.

Text and binary searches as well as regular expressions are supported.
http://www.funduc.com/registry_toolkit.htm 


http://downloads.theregister.co.uk/Windows/Utilities/Registry/registry-search.html

Sed produces junk results in the .reg file for some reason, and does
not replace the text using the method you described. I already tried
it, and I tried the one you linked to as well since I got it from a
different source.

In a text file, the text is replaced sucessfully, in the .reg file..
well, here's an excerpt:

Original:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{01D01C06-959A-4A94-9B3B-451A4896009C}\InprocServer32]
@="InsertPathHere\\Audit.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

Output after sed -e "s/InsertPathHere/Test/g" original.reg > temp.reg

????????????????????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????
@="InsertPathHere\\Audit.dll"
???????????????????????????????