Find & Replace

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Understand Find & Replace

Finds and replaces text across a whole document, either as literal text or with a regular expression.

How it works

In literal mode every regex metacharacter in your search term is escaped first, so a search for `a.b` matches exactly `a.b` and not "a, any character, b". In regex mode your pattern is compiled as written, with the global flag on unless you turn it off and the ignore-case flag on unless you ask for case sensitivity. Only regex mode gives the dollar sign a meaning in the replacement: `$1` inserts the first capture group, and a dollar sign followed by an ampersand inserts the whole match. So a pattern of `(\w+)@(\w+\.\w+)` with a replacement of `$2/$1` turns `user@example.com` into `example.com/user`.

When to use it

  • Renaming a symbol or a URL across a pasted file without opening an editor
  • Reshaping a column of data — stripping a prefix, swapping two fields, normalizing separators — with one capture-group pattern
  • Stripping noise out of a log paste, such as timestamps or ANSI escape sequences
  • Converting a delimiter, for example turning tabs into commas before importing a file

Watch out for

  • Matching is case-insensitive unless you turn case sensitivity on, which is the opposite of most editors. A replace of "id" will also hit "ID" and "Id" until you change it.
  • In regex mode without the global option only the first match is replaced. In literal mode `$1` and `
    amp;` are inserted as plain text rather than interpreted, so the two modes treat the same replacement string differently.
  • A pattern with nested quantifiers such as `(a+)+b` can backtrack catastrophically and freeze the tab on a long input. Anchor your patterns and avoid nesting a quantifier inside another.
  • Replacing in the middle of structured text breaks it quietly. A literal replace inside JSON, CSV, or HTML has no idea it is inside a quoted string or an attribute — validate the output afterwards.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I do a case-insensitive find and replace?

Enable "Case insensitive" mode (or add the "i" flag in regex mode). The search matches uppercase, lowercase, and mixed-case occurrences. The replacement preserves the exact case of the matched text, not the search term.

How do I use regex backreferences in replacement?

Capture groups from the find pattern are referenced in the replacement as $1, $2, and so on. For example, find (\w+)@(\w+\.\w+) and replace with $2/$1 turns user@domain.com into domain.com/user. Named groups use

lt;name>, a dollar sign followed by an ampersand inserts the whole match, and $ inserts a literal dollar sign.

Can I replace across multiple lines?

Enable regex mode and add the "s" (dotAll) or "m" (multiline) flags. The "m" flag makes ^ and $ match line boundaries; "s" makes dot (.) match newline characters for cross-line patterns.

How to Use Find & Replace

  1. Paste or type your input in the input area above.
  2. The tool processes your input automatically or click Run.
  3. Copy or download the result using the action buttons.
  4. Use Ctrl+Enter to run quickly from the keyboard.