How to extract text from a string using sed?

How about using grep -E?

echo "This is 02G05 a test string 20-Jul-2012" | grep -Eo '[0-9]+G[0-9]+'

The pattern \d might not be supported by your sed. Try [0-9] or [[:digit:]] instead.

To only print the actual match (not the entire matching line), use a substitution.

sed -n 's/.*\([0-9][0-9]*G[0-9][0-9]*\).*/\1/p'

sed doesn't recognize \d, use [[:digit:]] instead. You will also need to escape the + or use the -r switch (-E on OS X).

Note that [0-9] works as well for Arabic-Hindu numerals.

Try this instead:

echo "This is 02G05 a test string 20-Jul-2012" | sed 's/.* \([0-9]\+G[0-9]\+\) .*/\1/'

But note, if there is two pattern on one line, it will prints the 2nd.