Paste your text, type what you want to find and what to put instead, and press “Replace all”. While you type, the tool shows how many matches there are, so you know what will change before you press the button. Nothing is installed and nothing is uploaded: the replacement runs in your browser.
Use it to fix a word spelled wrongly all over a document, rename a term in a long text, change a date format, or remove something that repeats.
The options that change the result
Match case. Off by default, so “Monday”, “monday” and “MONDAY” are all found. Turn it on when the difference matters, for example to change a name written with a capital letter and leave the common word alone.
Whole word only. With it on, searching for “cat” does not touch “catalog” or “concatenate”. Letters with accents, such as é or ñ, count as part of the word.
Without “Use regular expressions”, everything you type is searched literally: a dot is a dot, and a dollar sign in the replacement is just a dollar sign.
Replacements that solve real problems
| Find | Replace with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Two spaces become one (type two spaces in “Find”). | ||
| Mr. | Mr | Drop the full stop after an abbreviation across the whole text. |
| colour | color | Switch spelling in one pass. |
| Dear Sir | Dear Ms Smith | Fill in a template for each recipient. |
Check the match count first. If the number is not what you expected, change the search before you replace.
How to use it
- 1Paste the text in the big box.
- 2Type what to find and what to put in its place. Choose the options you need. A badge tells you how many matches there are.
- 3Press “Replace all” and copy the result. If something is wrong, you can run another replacement to fix it, or paste the original again.
Why do it here and not by hand
Editors have find and replace too, but pasting into this page is faster when the text is in an email, a form or a CMS that has no such feature. The match counter lets you check the scale of a change before you make it, and the regular-expression mode handles changes a simple replace cannot.
Regular expression mode: when the text changes but the pattern does not
With “Use regular expressions” on, the “Find” field searches for a pattern instead of fixed text. It is useful for changes you could not make with a single word: all dates, all numbers at the start of a line, all broken lines. Three examples:
In the replacement, $1, $2… bring back what you captured between parentheses, and \n and \t insert a line break and a tab. ^ and $ mark the start and end of each line. The syntax is JavaScript’s. If the pattern has an error, you will see “Invalid regular expression” instead of a match count.
Limitations
There is no undo, so keep the original text somewhere until you are happy with the result. In normal mode, search is literal. In regular-expression mode, a pattern that matches an empty string, such as “a*”, can give surprising results. Replacing is always all at once: if you only want some of the matches, make the search more specific.
Frequently asked questions
How does find and replace work?
Type the text to find and the text to put in its place, then press “Replace all”. Every occurrence in the box is replaced at once.
What does “Match case” mean?
With it on, “Mary” and “mary” are different words and only exact matches are found. With it off, capital and lowercase letters are treated the same.
What is “Whole word only” for?
To avoid changing parts of other words. Searching for “is” with it on will not touch “this” or “island”.
How do I insert a line break in the replacement?
Turn on “Use regular expressions” and type \n in the replacement field. A \t inserts a tab.
Can I delete a word without putting anything in its place?
Yes. Leave “Replace with” empty and press “Replace all”: every match is removed.
Can I replace only some of the matches?
Not directly, because the button replaces all of them. Make the search more specific, for example by including a few words around the match, so that only the ones you want are found.
Does it work with accents, ñ and other special characters?
Yes. Search and replacement are done on the full text, and letters with accents are treated as part of a word in “Whole word only” mode.
Can I search for whole phrases?
Yes. Type the full phrase in “Find”, spaces included.
Why does it not find a word I can see?
Check “Match case” and “Whole word only”, and look for a different kind of space or a hidden character. Text copied from a PDF sometimes has line breaks or odd spaces inside words.
What happens if I type a $ in the replacement?
In normal mode nothing special: it is replaced as a plain dollar sign. In regular-expression mode, $1, $2… refer to the groups you captured.