Find and Replace Text

How to Find and Replace Text Online

Use this free find and replace tool to update words, phrases, or characters in a passage. Enter the text you want to edit, type a search term in Find, and enter the new text in Replace With. Use Previous and Next to review matches, then select Replace to change the current match or Replace All to change every match. The totals show how many matches were found and replacements were made. Select Copy to copy the finished text.

1. Paste or type your content in the Original Text box.
2. Enter the word, phrase, or characters to search for.
3. Enter replacement text, or leave the field blank to remove matching text.
4. Choose whether capitalization matters or whether to match whole words only.
5. Use Previous and Next to review matches, then choose Replace or Replace All.
6. Review the results and select Copy when you are ready to use them.

Replacements appear in the Results box. Your original text stays in its box, with matching text highlighted, so you can compare the result with the source.

Replace Multiple Occurrences of a Word

Select Replace All to replace every occurrence that meets your selected matching rules. For example, if the original text is “The cat sat on the mat. The cat was happy,” and you find cat and replace it with dog, the result is “The dog sat on the mat. The dog was happy.” You can also use Replace to change one match at a time. The Matches Found and Replacements Made totals show the current counts.

Matching is literal by default. If you search for a period, a plus sign, or text such as [draft], the tool looks for those exact characters rather than treating them as programming instructions.

Case-Sensitive and Case-Insensitive Matching

By default, matching ignores capitalization. A search for apple finds “apple,” “Apple,” and “APPLE.” Turn on Case sensitive when capitalization must match exactly. With that option selected, a search for “apple” will not replace “Apple” or “APPLE.”

Case-insensitive matching is useful when names or terms appear with inconsistent capitalization. Case-sensitive matching can help when you need to change one exact form while leaving other forms untouched, such as editing a product code or a capitalized name.

Match Whole Words Only

Use Match whole words only when a short search term should not change part of a longer word. For example, searching for “cat” without this option also finds those letters in “caterpillar.” With whole-word matching on, “cat” is replaced as a separate word while “caterpillar” stays the same. Punctuation around a word does not prevent it from matching.

Whole-word matching treats letters, combining marks, numbers, and underscores as word characters. It is useful for avoiding partial matches in English and many other writing systems. Leave it off when you intentionally want to replace a sequence wherever it appears, including inside other words.

Remove Words or Phrases

To delete matching text, enter the search term and leave Replace With empty. The Replace button removes the current match, while Replace All removes every match. The tool keeps the remaining text, punctuation, and line breaks. It does not remove surrounding spaces or punctuation, so review the result for spacing that may need cleanup. For example, removing “blue” from “a blue car” leaves the space that was next to the word.

This is useful for removing a repeated label, an outdated term, a phrase that appears in several paragraphs, or a character such as a comma. If you need to remove blank lines or change line breaks, use our Remove Line Breaks tool.

Find and Replace Punctuation and Special Characters

You can search for punctuation and symbols by entering them directly in the Find field. Commas, periods, parentheses, brackets, hyphens, and characters such as + or * are treated as literal text. The search is not a regular expression, so a period means a period and an asterisk means an asterisk.

The Find and Replace fields are single-line inputs. You can replace characters and text within multiple paragraphs, and the tool preserves their line breaks, but it does not provide a special control for searching for a line break. If you paste a tab character into a field and your browser keeps it, that character can be searched literally; pressing the Tab key moves focus to the next control.

Common Uses for Find and Replace

A text replacement tool can help with repetitive edits in drafts, lists, and copied content. Common uses include:

• Correcting a spelling mistake that appears several times.
• Replacing an outdated name, date, product label, or organization name.
• Changing terminology across website copy, notes, or a document draft.
• Removing a repeated word, phrase, punctuation mark, or label.
• Updating a list while preserving its line breaks and order.
• Changing capitalization-sensitive terms or replacing a whole word without editing longer words.

Before using the result in a final document, review the text in context. A short term may appear in a name, code, URL, or longer word where a replacement would not be appropriate. The whole-word and case-sensitive options help narrow matches, while the original text remains available for comparison.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find and replace text online?

Paste your text into the Original Text box, enter a search term and replacement, and review the highlighted matches. Select Replace to change the current match or Replace All to change every match. Use Copy to copy the updated text.

Can I replace only one occurrence?

Yes. Use Previous and Next to select a match, then select Replace. Choose Replace All when you want to change every match at once.

Can I replace every occurrence of a word?

Yes. Select Replace All. It replaces every match that follows the selected case and whole-word options. The Matches Found and Replacements Made totals show how many occurrences were processed.

Is find and replace case-sensitive?

It is case-insensitive by default. Select Case sensitive to require the same capitalization as the Find field.

Can I replace a whole word without changing part of another word?

Yes. Select Match whole words only. A search for “cat” will then match a separate “cat” but not the letters “cat” inside “caterpillar.”

Can I delete words with this tool?

Yes. Enter the word or phrase in Find and leave Replace With blank. Matching text is removed; any spaces or punctuation around it remain as they were.

Does the tool preserve line breaks?

Yes. It keeps the line breaks in your original text. The single-line Find field does not have a separate way to enter a line break as the search term.

Is my text uploaded to a server?

No. The replacement runs in your browser. The text you enter is not sent to a server for analysis.

Can I find and replace special characters?

Yes. Enter punctuation or a symbol directly in Find. Characters that have special meanings in regular expressions are treated literally by this tool.

Related Text Tools

Continue editing with our Case Converter, Remove Line Breaks, Remove Duplicate Lines, or Duplicate Word Finder. You can also check your updated text with the Word Counter or Character Counter.