Find and Replace Text

About the Find and Replace Text

The Find and Replace tool lets you edit large amounts of text in bulk without opening a word processor or code editor. Type what you want to find, what to replace it with, and every match is updated in one click. A live counter shows how many matches exist before you replace anything, and an Undo button restores your text if you change your mind.

Advanced users can enable Regular expression mode to match patterns such as all email addresses, phone numbers or repeated spaces, and use capture groups like $1 in the replacement. Whole words mode prevents "cat" from matching inside "category". Use \n in the replacement to insert line breaks, for example to turn a comma-separated list into one item per line.

Practical find and replace examples

• Comma list to one item per line: find , (comma and space) and replace with \n.
• Fix a repeated typo: find recieve, replace with receive, with whole words on.
• Update a product name everywhere: find the old name and replace it in a whole document at once. Check the match counter first so you know how many places will change.
• Remove double spaces: with regular expressions on, find {2,} and replace with a single space.

Regular expression examples

• Find all email addresses: [\w.+-]+@[\w-]+\.[\w.]+
• Swap "Last, First" to "First Last": find (\w+), (\w+) and replace with $2 $1. "Khan, Ayesha" becomes "Ayesha Khan".
• Delete numbers at the start of lines: find ^\d+\.\s* and replace with nothing.

Tip: when you are unsure, run the replacement and read the result. The Undo button brings your text back if the pattern matched more than you expected.

How to use the Find and Replace Text

1. Paste your text into the large box.
2. Enter the word, phrase or pattern to find and its replacement.
3. Choose case sensitivity, whole words or regex mode and check the match count.
4. Click Replace all, then copy the updated text.

Frequently asked questions