About the Find and Replace Text
This Find and Replace Text tool changes words or patterns in text you paste, using as many rules as you like. Each rule has a Find box and a Replace with box, and the rules run from top to bottom, each one on the result of the one before. Options apply to every rule: match case, whole words only, and regular expressions, with an extra switch so that ^ and $ match at each line. The result appears at once with a count of the replacements made by every rule. In plain mode the replacement text is taken literally, so a dollar sign is just a dollar sign, and in regular expression mode you can use $1, $2 and $& to reuse what matched. You can copy the result, download it, or move it back into the input to keep going. The work is done in your browser and the text is not saved anywhere.
Updated September 2026
How to use the Find and Replace Text
- 1Paste your text into the Your text box.
- 2Type what to find and what to replace it with. Add more rules if you need them.
- 3Set the options: match case, whole words only or regular expressions.
- 4Check the result and the counts, then copy it, download it or use it as the new input.
Find and replace step by step
Type the text you want to change in the Find box and the text to put in its place in Replace with. Leave Replace with empty to delete the matches. The result updates as you type, and the summary under it says how many places were changed, which is a quick way to check that the rule did what you meant.
Empty Find boxes are ignored, so you can leave a blank rule without harm. Line endings are turned into a single kind, so text from Windows and from a phone behave the same.
Several rules in order
Rules run from top to bottom and each acts on the result of the last. That makes it possible to build small clean-up recipes, such as replacing curly quotes, then changing a spelling, then fixing spacing. The order matters: swapping two words needs a temporary placeholder, for example changing cat to XX, dog to cat, then XX to dog.
If one rule has an invalid pattern, the tool names the rule and explains the problem, and it shows no partial result.
Whole words and case
By default matching ignores capital letters, so Hello, hello and HELLO are all found. Tick Match case for an exact match. Whole words only stops a short word from matching inside longer ones. Case matching is simple: it does not treat the German letter ß as SS, for example. For complicated patterns, build the expression in the Regex Tester first. After the swap, the Case Converter fixes capital letters, Remove Duplicate Lines clears repeated rows, and the Diff Checker shows exactly what changed between the old and new versions.
Regular expressions for patterns
- \d+ matches any run of digits, and \s+ matches runs of spaces.
- (\w+)@(\w+) with $2 at $1 as the replacement swaps two parts.
- ^ and $ match the start and end of the whole text, unless the line option is on.
- Patterns follow JavaScript syntax in your browser, and a pattern can be up to 500 characters.
- A pattern that finds more than 100,000 matches is stopped, and you are asked to make it more specific.
Features
- Any number of rules, applied in order
- Match case and whole words options
- Regular expressions with $1, $2 and $& in the replacement
- Optional ^ and $ that match each line
- Literal replacement text in plain mode
- Replacement count for every rule
- Copy, download or reuse the result as input
- Clear messages for a bad pattern
Frequently asked questions
How do I replace text online?
Paste your text, type the word or phrase to find in the Find box and the new text in Replace with. The result appears straight away in the Result box, with a count of how many replacements were made. Then copy it or download it.
Can I replace several words at once?
Yes. Press Add another rule for each extra pair. The rules run from top to bottom, and each one works on the output of the previous one. So if rule 1 turns one into two and rule 2 turns two into three, both words end up as three.
How do I use regular expressions to replace text?
Tick Use regular expressions and type a pattern such as \d+ to match every number. Put capture groups in brackets and reuse them in the replacement with $1, $2 and so on, and $& for the whole match. Test on a copy first, because a pattern can change more than you expect.
How do I match only whole words?
Tick Whole words only. Then cat matches the word cat but not concatenate or category. If your search text starts or ends with a symbol, the boundary check is skipped on that side, since a symbol is not part of a word.
Why does $1 show up in my result?
In plain mode the replacement text is used exactly as typed, so $1 stays as $1. Tick Use regular expressions to make $1 stand for the first capture group. Without a bracketed group in the pattern, $1 also stays as text.
Is my text uploaded?
No. Everything happens in your browser, and the text is not sent to a server or stored. If you close or reload the page, the text and the rules are gone.