LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] Well done is better than well sed

First, what I have, works... so I'm not asking someone to do a bunch of work 'for me'. I'm just looking to improve what I have, and learn something from seeing it done right.

I volunteered to help find a solution for a group where the goal was to extract all bible references that are enclosed consistently in parentheses from a given text document, grab the referenced verse or range of verses from a database and generate a list, so the actual verse content is there, and not just the reference.

To grab the scripture, I used Chip Chapin's bible-kjv, which does not like roman numerals, and prefers queries to NOT have any spaces (2Corinthians2:1 instead of II Corinthians 2:1).

Code:

bible -f -l80 2Corinthians2:1

Above example would generate formatted (-f) text at 80 characters.

As can be seen in my newbie script, I hack away at the text, extracting all the references enclosed in parentheses, but only if it's got a colon preceded by a number, removes any semi-colons, removes the spaces, etc. finally generating a double-spaced list of scriptures with a place to put a check mark or whatever. bible-kjv is ok with commas.

I just can't seem to figure out how to get around directing to multiple files and using so many seds... I am a newbie, and what I have works fine, just looking to do it better, and learn, any ideas?

Code:

cat $1 | grep \( \

        | cut -d ')' -f 1 - \ 

        | cut -d '(' -f 2 - \

        | grep \[0-9]\: \

        | sed 's/cf./,/g' \

        | tr \, \\n \

        | sed 's/and//g' \

        | sed 's/ //g' \

        | sed 's/\;//g' \

        | sed 's/^III/3/g' \

        | sed 's/^II/2/g' \

        | sed 's/^I/1/g' \

        | sed 's/Philemon/Philemon1:/' \

        | sed 's/Obadiah/Obadiah1:/' \

        | sed 's/^2John/2John1:/' \

        | sed 's/^3John/3John1:/' \

        | sed 's/^Jude/Jude1:/' \

        > ref.1

cat ref.1 | while read line; do

        bible -f -l80 $line >> ref.2

done

cat ref.2 | sed 's/^/\[_____\] /' | sed G > ref.rtf

Thanks for looking.
-Scott