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Find and Replace Text

Replace text across large bodies of content with literal or regular-expression matching, case control, and a live result preview.

Replacements run entirely in your browser.

Literal or Regular Expression: Choosing Wrong Is the Classic Mistake

Characters like . ( [ * + have special meaning in regex, so searching for a literal "3.5" in regex mode can match "3x5", "3 5" and more. When the search text contains punctuation, prefer literal mode; switch to regex only when you need patterns ("any digit", "any whitespace run"). The second classic error is forgetting that replacements are applied to every match at once — test on a small sample before running it over a long document.

How the Transformation Works

  1. Paste the text you want to modify into the input area.
  2. Enter the search term and the replacement. Toggle case sensitivity or whole-word matching as needed.
  3. Switch to regex mode for patterns — capture groups can be referenced in the replacement with $1, $2, and so on.
  4. The result preview updates live; copy it or download it as a .txt file.
Formula & Technical Standard
Literal mode escapes the search term into a RegExp (meta-characters like . * + are matched literally); regex mode compiles your pattern with the g flag and substitutes capture groups $1–$9 from the match.

Example Input & Output

Normalize a product code prefix
Input: Replace "SKU:" with "REF-" in a 200-line catalog
Output: Every occurrence updated in one pass
Manual editing across hundreds of lines invites mistakes; a single replace pass is deterministic.
Regex swap of name order
Input: Pattern (\w+) (\w+) replaced with $2, $1 on "Ana Lopez"
Output: Lopez, Ana
Capture groups let you reorder parts of a match, a common need when cleaning up imported data.

Common Questions

What regex flavor is supported?

The JavaScript (ECMAScript) regex flavor — the same one used by Node.js and all modern browsers.

Can I replace across multiple lines?

Yes. The search operates over the entire input, so multi-line patterns work when combined with the s flag or explicit newline handling.

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