That should be the replace function which performs word replacements in documents.
Usually, network devices can be set up to send their syslog messages to a syslog server, so you'd just need a *nix computer with syslog setup to receive messages via the network, and you can read stuff there. You also get the advantage of having reglar expressions so that "noise" (messages you don't care about) isn't displayed.
Network devices can also be set up to use SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol).
