title: How can I insert a tab character with sed on OS X?
body: <p>I have tried:</p>
  
  <pre><code>echo -e "egg\t  \t\t salad" | sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/\t/g'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Which results in:</p>
  
  <pre><code>eggtsalad
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And...</p>
  
  <pre><code>echo -e "egg\t  \t\t salad" | sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/\\t/g'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Which results in:</p>
  
  <pre><code>egg\tsalad
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What I would like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>egg salad
  </code></pre>