Find and Replace Tool
A powerful text search and replace tool with support for regular expressions, case sensitivity, and whole word matching. Perfect for processing large texts, code refactoring, and content editing with precision and efficiency.
Options
Features & Capabilities
Core Features
- Basic text search
- Case sensitive matching
- Whole word matching
- Regular expressions
- Multiple occurrence handling
- Match navigation
Advanced Features
- Preserve case replacement
- Multiline support
- Unicode handling
- Special character support
- Undo/redo capability
- Match count display
How to Use
Step 1: Enter Text
Type or paste your text in the editor
Step 2: Search Text
Enter the text you want to find
Step 3: Replace Text
Enter the replacement text
Step 4: Choose Options
Select matching options if needed
Step 5: Replace
Click Replace or Replace All
Interesting History
The concept of find and replace has been a fundamental part of text editing since the early days of computing. The first implementation appeared in the QED editor developed at UC Berkeley in 1967, introducing regular expressions for pattern matching. This was revolutionary as it allowed complex search patterns beyond simple text matching. The concept was later popularized by the Unix text editor ed and its successor vi, created by Bill Joy in 1976. The familiar Ctrl+F shortcut we use today was standardized by IBM in their Common User Access guidelines in 1987, making text search a universal feature across applications. Modern find and replace tools have evolved to include sophisticated features like regular expressions, incremental search, and multi-file operations, becoming indispensable tools in software development and content editing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes this find and replace tool different from others?
Our tool combines advanced features like regex support, case preservation, and Unicode handling with an intuitive interface. It offers real-time preview, match navigation, and supports complex search patterns while maintaining high performance.
How does regular expression (regex) search work in this tool?
Regular expressions allow powerful pattern matching using special characters. For example, \b\w+@\w+\.\w+\b finds email addresses, while \d{3}-\d{3}-\d{4} matches phone numbers. Enable the 'Use regular expressions' option to use this feature.
What is 'Preserve case' and when should I use it?
Preserve case maintains the original text's capitalization pattern in the replacement. For example, replacing 'Hello' with 'hi' would become 'Hi', and 'HELLO' would become 'HI'. This is useful when maintaining document formatting consistency.
Can this tool handle large text files?
Yes, the tool is optimized for performance with efficient text processing algorithms and incremental search. It can handle large documents while maintaining responsive performance and providing real-time feedback.
How does the 'Whole word' option affect searching?
Whole word matching ensures that the search term is found as a complete word, not as part of another word. For example, searching for 'cat' with whole word enabled won't match 'category' or 'concatenate'.
Does the tool support multi-line search and replace?
Yes, with the 'Multiline' option enabled, you can search across line breaks and use regex patterns with ^ and $ to match line beginnings and endings. This is particularly useful for processing structured text or code.
How does case sensitive searching work?
When case sensitive is enabled, the search exactly matches upper and lowercase letters. For example, 'Test' won't match 'test' or 'TEST'. This is useful when precision is important, like in programming variable names.
Can I undo changes made by find and replace?
Yes, the tool includes full undo/redo functionality. Every replace operation can be undone using the editor's history feature, allowing you to experiment with different replacements safely.
How does the tool handle special characters and Unicode?
The tool fully supports Unicode characters and special characters in both search and replace operations. It correctly processes international characters, emojis, and various text encodings while maintaining document integrity.
What are the common use cases for this tool?
Common applications include code refactoring (renaming variables/functions), text cleanup (fixing formatting/spelling), content preparation (updating links/references), and document processing (standardizing terminology/formatting).