How to Find and Replace Text
Editing the same thing forty times by hand is how typos creep in. Paste your text, type what to find and what to put in its place, and every occurrence changes at once — with a match count so you know exactly how many were affected. Two options make ordinary replacements far safer. Whole-word matching uses proper word boundaries, so replacing cat leaves concatenate alone, which is the mistake that makes people distrust bulk replace in the first place. Case sensitivity is off by default so you catch every variant, but you can turn it on when capitalisation carries meaning. Switch to regex mode and you get pattern matching: capture parts of what you matched with brackets and reuse them in the replacement with $1 and $2, which is how you reformat dates, restructure records or transform a list in one pass. Before anything is committed you see the matches highlighted in the original text, so there are no surprises. And when one pass isn't enough, the result can be fed straight back as the new input to chain several replacements in sequence. Everything runs in your browser, so confidential documents stay on your device.
Paste your text
Drop in the document you want to edit.
Set find & replace
Choose plain or regex, and toggle case and whole-word.
Check and copy
Review the highlighted matches, then copy the result.
Plain vs Regex Mode
Plain mode
Everything you type is matched literally, so special characters like a dot or a bracket mean exactly themselves. This is what you want most of the time, and it's where whole-word matching applies.
Regex mode
Your search becomes a pattern: \d matches any digit, brackets create capture groups, and the replacement can reference them with $1 and $2. Powerful for restructuring rather than just swapping text.
Common Use Cases
Rename a term everywhere
Update a product or brand name across a whole document safely.
Clean up whitespace
Collapse repeated spaces or strip trailing whitespace with one pattern.
Reformat dates
Swap ISO dates to day/month/year using capture groups.
Anonymise data
Replace emails, IDs or names before sharing a file.
Build lists
Prefix every line with a bullet or a quote character.
Fix imported text
Repair smart quotes, stray characters or encoding artefacts.
Update URLs
Change a domain or path across many links at once.
Prepare code snippets
Rename a variable throughout a block before pasting it.
Tips & Best Practices
Check the highlighting first
The preview shows every match before you copy anything — read it, especially for short search terms.
Use whole-word for short terms
Replacing a two or three letter word without word boundaries will hit the middle of longer words.
Watch the match count
If the number is much higher than expected, your search is matching more than you intended.
Escape specials in regex mode
A literal dot, question mark or bracket needs a backslash, or it means something else.
Chain complex edits
Several simple replacements in sequence are easier to verify than one enormous pattern.
Keep a copy of the original
Replacement has no undo once you close the page, so keep the source until you're happy.
Troubleshooting
It replaced inside longer words
Turn on whole-word matching so word boundaries are respected, or add more context to your search term.
My $1 appeared literally
Capture group references only work in regex mode. Turn it on, and make sure your pattern has brackets.
The pattern is reported invalid
Regex mode shows the engine's exact error — usually an unclosed bracket or group. Check the message.
Nothing matched
Check case sensitivity, and remember that in plain mode your text is matched literally including spaces.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find and replace text for free?
Paste your text, enter what to find and what to replace it with, and every match changes instantly. Copy the result — free, no signup.
Does it replace all occurrences?
Yes. Every match in the document is replaced in one pass, and the count tells you how many.
Can I use regular expressions?
Yes. Turn on regex mode to match patterns rather than literal text, using the JavaScript regex engine.
How do capture groups work?
Wrap part of your pattern in brackets, then reference it in the replacement as $1, $2 and so on. Use $& for the whole match.
What is whole-word matching?
It adds word boundaries so replacing cat won't change concatenate — essential for short search terms.
Is it case sensitive?
Not by default, so you catch every variant. Turn on the case-sensitive option when capitalisation matters.
Can I see what will change first?
Yes. Matches are highlighted in the original text before you copy anything.
Can I run several replacements?
Yes. Use the result as the new input to chain replacements in sequence.
Is my text sent to a server?
No. Everything runs in your browser, so your document never leaves your device.
Is there an undo?
The original stays in the input box until you replace it, so keep a copy before chaining edits.
Can I replace line breaks?
Yes, in regex mode — use \n in the pattern to match newlines.
How large a document can it handle?
It comfortably handles long documents, all within your browser.
Can I remove text rather than replace it?
Yes. Leave the replacement field empty and every match is deleted.
Does it work with special characters?
In plain mode everything is matched literally. In regex mode, escape special characters with a backslash.
Can I download the result?
Yes. Save it as a .txt file, or copy it to your clipboard.
Does it work offline?
Once the page has loaded it runs entirely in your browser, so it keeps working without a connection.
Does it work on phones?
Yes, in any modern browser on Windows, Mac, Android or iPhone with nothing to install.
Is this tool really free?
Completely free, forever — no account, no ads and no premium wall.
100% free · No signup · Processed in your browser · Data never sent
Last updated: August 2026 · FlipMyFormat Find and Replace
Written and maintained by the FlipMyFormat team · Runs entirely in your browser