Comments in a multi-line bash command

Put the pipes at the end of line with the comments after it:

$ echo 'foo' |
sed 's/f/a/' | # change first f to a
sed 's/o/b/' | # change first o to b
sed 's/o/c/'   # change second o to c
abc

If you happen upon this question while looking to comment a non-pipeline multiline command:

$ echo 'foo' |
sed -e 's/f/a/' `: # change first f to a` \
    -e 's/o/b/' `: # change first o to b` \
    -e 's/o/c/' `: # change second o to c`

Unless you're doing something really perverse like automating commenting, I can't see a reason to prefer this over Mikel's answer for a pipe, but if you really wanted to:

$ echo 'foo' |
sed 's/f/a/' | `: # change first f to a` \
sed 's/o/b/' | `: # change first o to b` \
sed 's/o/c/'   `: # change second o to c`

or:

$ echo 'foo' |
sed 's/f/a/' `: # change first f to a` |
sed 's/o/b/' `: # change first o to b` |
sed 's/o/c/' `: # change second o to c`

Source: http://unix.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/comp.unix.solaris/2005-07/0991.html

Well, I prefer this way,

echo 'foo' | {
  # change first f to a
  # you can add more lines of comment on the command options
  sed 's/f/a/'
} | {
  # change first o to b
  sed 's/o/b/'
} | {
  # change second o to c
  sed 's/o/c/' 
}