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The `b\+` part of the regex is already greedy. In sed, all repetitions are greedy. Your problem is that the initial `.*` is also greedy, and so that's gobbling up both the `a` and as many `b`s as it can. For this example, you can change that part to `[^b]*`:

```
$ sed -n 's/[^b]*\(b\+\).*/\1/p' <<< abbbc
bbb
```

For more complicated situations, sed is unlikely to cut it. grep might be a more natural fit for what you're trying to do anyway.

```
$ grep -o 'b\+' <<< abbbc
bbb
```