Text tools

Find and Replace

Find literal or regular-expression matches and safely preview replacements.

Processed locally in your browser. Your input is not uploaded to our server.

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How to use Find and Replace

  1. Paste source text, then enter the find pattern and replacement text.
  2. Choose literal or regex behavior and configure scope, case, word, and newline options.
  3. Review the match count and highlighted preview before applying or downloading changes.

Supported behavior

Find and Replace edits source text with a visible match count and preview before you accept changes. Literal search is the default, with choices for first-only or all matches, case sensitivity, and whole-word matching. Regular-expression mode adds multiline and dot-matches-newline controls for structured patterns. Invalid expressions are reported without modifying the source or replacing a previously valid result. Whole-word matching uses Unicode-aware boundaries where supported. Inputs up to 500 KiB can highlight matches in the preview; large regular-expression work runs away from the main interface and is cancelled after five seconds to limit runaway patterns. Replacement text follows the selected literal or regex semantics, so capture references should be checked in preview. All source, patterns, matches, and replacements remain within your browser and are never uploaded. Regular expressions can still produce surprising broad matches, especially with zero-width patterns, so confirm the count and changed regions before copying or downloading.

  • Regex processing stops after five seconds, so extremely expensive patterns may not complete.
  • Preview highlighting is limited to inputs up to 500 KiB even when processing can continue.

Examples

                Northwind ships today. Northwind docs follow.

Result: Find “Northwind”, replace with “Contoso” → Contoso ships today. Contoso docs follow.

                Due 2026-07-21 and 2026-08-01.

Result: Regex (\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2}), replacement $3/$2/$1 → Due 21/07/2026 and 01/08/2026.

Common use cases

  • Rename a repeated product term across release notes.
  • Reformat dates with regular-expression capture groups.
  • Replace only a standalone word without touching longer identifiers.

Frequently asked questions

Is the find text treated as regex by default?

No. Literal search is the default, so metacharacters have no special meaning until regex mode is selected.

What happens if my expression is invalid?

The compile error is shown and the source plus prior valid output remain untouched.

Can I replace just the first match?

Yes. Switch from the default Replace all behavior to Replace first only.

Why did a large regex stop?

Regex work is capped at five seconds to prevent a costly pattern from blocking the tool indefinitely.