This strikes me a bit like a "doctor, it hurts when I go like that" problem.
What's the use case [1] for using a zero-length suffix argument (i.e. editing the file "in place" with no backup)?
It's not as if sed is operating on the file actually in place. It uses a temporary file anyway. Varying levels of reliability/portability can be achieved by controlling that temporary file (or subsequent artifacts) oneself, the first level being just to "rm" the backup.
[1] Assuming this is in scripting, since the interactive situation is easily enough adjusted on the fly
What's the use case [1] for using a zero-length suffix argument (i.e. editing the file "in place" with no backup)?
It's not as if sed is operating on the file actually in place. It uses a temporary file anyway. Varying levels of reliability/portability can be achieved by controlling that temporary file (or subsequent artifacts) oneself, the first level being just to "rm" the backup.
[1] Assuming this is in scripting, since the interactive situation is easily enough adjusted on the fly