# If you'd like to omit non-matching lines from the result; add ';d' to the end of the expression.
sed -E 's/(\b[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*\(.*)(?:\b[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*)?(\b[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*\(.+?\))(.+)/\1-\3/gm;t' <<< "function(1, 2, 3)
function(1, 2, 3, 4)
function(1, function(1, 2), 3)
function(function(function(1, 2), 2), 2, 3, 4)
function(1, 2)
function(1, function(1, function(1, 2)))
function(1, function(function(1), 2))"
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for SED, please visit: https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/manual/html_node/The-_0022s_0022-Command.html