# If you'd like to omit non-matching lines from the result; add ';d' to the end of the expression.
sed -E 's/(?=[^()]*\)[\w\s.,]*")-/./gm;t' <<< "-\"$(vc-alert)\"-$(vc-alert)-\"$(vc-alert)\"
-\"$(vc-alert-error)\"-$(vc-alert-error)-\"$(vc-alert-error)\"
-\"$(vc-alert-error_message)\"-$(vc-alert-error_message)-
\"This is a $(vc-alert-error) message.\""
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