What this tool does
Find and replace text swaps every occurrence of a word or pattern inside a large block of text in a single pass. You paste the content, type what to look for and what to put in its place, and see the result instantly along with the exact number of matches changed. It is the quick version of the classic “Find and Replace” in an editor, but with nothing to install: everything runs in your browser and the text is never uploaded.
It suits everyday jobs: standardising spelling across a document, renaming a repeated character in a script, normalising a pasted CSV, stripping a brand name out of copy, or reshaping formats with regular expressions. Because the result recomputes as you type, you can refine the pattern without pressing any buttons.
How to use it
- Paste or type your text into the Original text box.
- In Find, type the word or pattern you want to locate.
- In Replace with, type the new text. Leave it empty to delete the matches instead.
- Toggle the options as needed:
- Match case:
Colorandcolorare treated as different. - Whole word: only the standalone word changes, not when it sits inside another (
catleavescategoryalone). - Regular expression: reads the Find field as a regex and enables groups like
$1.
- Match case:
- Read the Matches replaced counter and copy the result with one click.
The method
Without regex, whatever you type is matched literally: special characters (., *, $, parentheses…) are escaped so they carry no magic meaning. With Whole word on, the pattern is wrapped in word boundaries \b, so only isolated occurrences count.
In Regular expression mode, the Find field compiles to a JavaScript RegExp with the global flag. You can capture parts with parentheses and drop them into the replacement with $1, $2, and so on; $& inserts the whole match and $$ a literal dollar sign. If the expression is invalid the tool does not break: it shows a gentle message and leaves the text untouched. An empty search pattern also does nothing.
| Option | Find | Matches | Skips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | color | color, Color (case-insensitive) | — |
| Match case | color | color | Color, COLOR |
| Whole word | cat | standalone cat | category, concatenate |
| Regex with group | (\d{2})/(\d{2}) | 01/02, 15/09 | text without a date |
Worked example
Start from this text in the original box:
The color of the car and the color of the wall share one color.With Find = color, Replace with = colour, and every option off, the tool finds 3 matches and returns:
The colour of the car and the colour of the wall share one colour.Turning on Match case gives the same output because all three occurrences were already lowercase. For a group example, switch on Regular expression, search (\d{2})/(\d{2}) and replace with $2-$1: the text 01/02 and 15/09 becomes 02-01 and 09-15 (2 matches).
Frequently asked questions
How do I delete text instead of changing it?
Type what you are looking for in Find and leave Replace with blank. Each match is removed and the counter tells you how many you deleted. Handy for pulling out a repeated tag or a stray character that dirties a paste.
What is the difference between whole word and a normal search?
A normal search changes the pattern wherever it appears: searching cat would also hit category. With Whole word, the pattern only counts when it stands alone between spaces or punctuation, so category and concatenate stay intact.
What can I do with regular expression mode?
Reorder dates, reshape formats, capture numbers, or clean repeated patterns. Use parentheses to capture and $1, $2 in the replacement. For instance, \s+ replaced by a single space collapses runs of whitespace. If the syntax is wrong you get a notice and the text is left unchanged.
Is my text sent to a server?
No. All processing runs in your browser with JavaScript; the content never travels anywhere. Close the tab and no trace is left behind.