Utility Tool

Find and Replace

Search and replace text with regex support and match highlighting.

Output

Enter text and a search pattern to see results

Introduction

Renaming a variable across a 5,000-line configuration file, updating a deprecated API endpoint in dozens of documentation pages, or redacting sensitive strings from a log dump — these are all find-and-replace tasks that go beyond what a simple text editor can handle. A dedicated Find and Replace tool supports regular expressions, case-sensitive matching, whole-word boundaries, and multi-step replacement chains that would require writing a one-off script otherwise.

What Is Find and Replace?

A Find and Replace tool scans a body of text for all occurrences of a search pattern and substitutes them with a replacement string. In its simplest mode, it performs literal string matching — finding every "http://" and replacing it with "https://". In regex mode, it interprets the search pattern as a regular expression, enabling powerful transformations like capturing groups: finding "(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})" and replacing with "$2/$3/$1" converts ISO dates to US format.

The tool highlights every match in the input text before you commit the replacement, so you can verify that the pattern is matching exactly what you intend. A match counter shows how many replacements will be made, and clicking any highlighted match scrolls the view to that position. This preview-and-confirm workflow prevents the catastrophic scenario of running a global replace only to discover it mangled string literals, comments, or URLs that partially matched the pattern.

Advanced options include case-insensitive matching (so "Error" and "error" are both found), whole-word matching that uses word boundaries to avoid replacing substrings inside larger words, and multi-line mode where the dot character matches newlines — essential for matching patterns that span across lines like HTML tag pairs or multi-line log entries. The replacement can reference captured groups using $1, $2 syntax or the full match with $&.

Find and Replace Examples

Input	Output
Find: "http://" Replace: "https://"	All HTTP URLs converted to HTTPS across the entire document
Regex: "(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})" Replace: "$2/$3/$1"	2024-03-15 becomes 03/15/2024 (ISO to US date format)
Find: "oldMethod" (whole word) Replace: "newMethod"	oldMethod renamed but thisIsOldMethod left unchanged

Key Features of Find and Replace

Literal and regular expression search modes with instant match highlighting in the preview pane
Case-sensitive, case-insensitive, and whole-word matching options for precise pattern control
Capture group support in regex mode with $1, $2, $& replacement backreferences
Match counter and per-match navigation to review each occurrence before committing the replacement
Multi-line mode enabling dot-all matching for patterns that span across line breaks
Undo history that lets you revert replacements if the result is not what you expected
File upload support for running find-and-replace on entire text files without copy-pasting

How It Works

Paste Your Text and Define Search Terms

Enter your source text into the input area, then type the word or pattern you want to find in the search field and the replacement text in the replace field. The tool shows a live count of matches as you type, so you know exactly how many replacements will occur.

Apply Literal or Regex Pattern Matching

Choose between literal text matching for simple word substitutions or enable regex mode for advanced pattern-based replacements. Regex mode supports capture groups, character classes, and lookaheads, letting you transform complex text patterns that literal search cannot handle.

Review and Copy the Replaced Text

The tool highlights all matches in the output so you can verify each replacement before copying. Match highlighting lets you catch unintended replacements where your search term appeared in a different context than expected.

Who Uses This

Technical Writers

renaming product features, updating terminology, or changing version numbers across long documentation files where manual find-and-replace would be tedious and error-prone

Developers

using regex-powered find and replace to refactor variable names, update import paths, or reformat string patterns across code snippets without opening a full IDE

Transcriptionists

batch-replacing common transcription errors, speaker labels, or timestamp formats in interview transcripts to maintain consistency across large volumes of text

Related Tools

Utility

Diff Checker

Compare two texts and highlight inserted or deleted lines

Try it Utility

Duplicate Line Remover

Strip duplicate lines while preserving original order

Try it Utility

Line Sorter

Sort lines alphabetically, numerically, or in reverse

Try it Utility

Whitespace Remover

Strip extra spaces, tabs, and line breaks from text

Try it

Frequently Asked Questions

What regex features are supported in pattern mode?

The tool supports standard JavaScript regex syntax including capture groups with parentheses, character classes with brackets, quantifiers like asterisk and plus, anchors like caret and dollar sign, and backreferences in the replacement string using dollar sign notation.

Can I preview replacements before applying them?

Yes. The tool highlights every match in the output preview and shows a total match count. You can review the highlighted results and adjust your search pattern or replacement text before copying the final output.

Does the replace support case-insensitive matching?

Yes. Enable the case-insensitive toggle to match regardless of capitalization. This is especially useful when the same word appears with different casing throughout your document and you want to standardize it in one operation.