[[Category:Home tab]]
<div class="idm-shortcut">Shortcut: <span>Ctrl+R</span></div>
[[File:Hometab_replacecommand.png]]

The Replace dialog allows you to search for a specific text string, and then replace it with a different text string.

Enter the string to search for in the '''Find what''' field, and the replace string to be used in the '''Replace with''' field. Both of these fields support single or multi-line strings up to 20,000 bytes.

If the string is not found, the search wraps around to the other end of the file and continues the search. To configure this behavior, see the [[Settings:Search:Miscellaneous|Settings » Search » Miscellaneous]] help topic.

If the string doesn't exist in the file, UltraEdit will prompt you.

In addition to regular characters and strings, both the '''Find what''' and '''Replace with''' fields support searching for several special characters and strings with special notation. For example, "^t" will match a tab (or insert a tab if part of the '''Replace with''' string). For a complete list of these values, see [[Special search characters]]. These special characters are valuable for matching non-printable text in files.

[[File:Ultraedit find i history.png|left]] '''History button'''<br>
This button displays a scrollable history list for either '''Find what''' or '''Replace with'''.

[[File:Ultraedit find i favorites.png|left]] '''Favorites button'''
This button opens the '''Find what''' or '''Replace with''' favorites menu with the following options:

{|
|Add to Favorites
|adds current item in "Find what" field to Favorites list
|-
|Edit Favorites
|opens Edit [[Find/Replace Favorites]] dialog where you can name favorite search strings, organize the list and remove items from the list
|-
|Favorites
|opens sub-menu to select an existing favorite for the "Find what" string
|-
|}

[[File:Ultraedit find i regexp.png|left]]'''Regular expressions help button'''<br>
This button opens a short regular expression syntax reference for the selected regular expression engine. This button is subdued unless the regular expressions checkbox is checked.

[[File:Ultraedit find i swap.png|left]]'''Swap button'''<br>
This button swaps the contents of the '''Find what''' and '''Replace with''' fields.

'''Next'''<br>
(Note: This button will be labeled "Start" if ''Show slim dialog after start'' is not enabled in Settings under [[Settings:Search:Miscellaneous|Settings » Search » Miscellaneous]] - by default, it is not.) Clicking the '''Next''' button initiates a search for the string in the '''Find What''' field. If the string is not found from the caret position to the end of the file, then the search wraps around to the top of the file and continues the search with a brief notification displayed at the lower-right of the editor window. To configure this behavior, see the [[Settings:Search:Miscellaneous|Settings » Search » Miscellaneous]] help topic.

If the string doesn't exist in the file, UltraEdit will prompt you.

If ''Show slim dialog after start'' '''is''' enabled in Settings under [[Settings:Search:Miscellaneous|Settings » Search » Miscellaneous]] (by default, it is not), then UltraEdit will highlight the first match and open the slim replace dialog. Otherwise, the Replace dialog will remain open.

Once UltraEdit highlights a match, the Replace (or slim replace) dialog offers the following options:

'''Find next'''<br>
Moves to the next match of the '''Find what''' string without making a replacement.

'''Replace'''<br>
Replaces the currently selected match and moves to the next match.

'''Replace all'''<br>
Replaces all matches in the file.

'''Last''' (slim replace dialog only)<br>
Replaces the currently selected match and closes the slim replace dialog.

'''Close'''<br>
Closes the slim replace dialog

'''In'''<br>
You can set the search area to '''Current file''', '''Selected text''' or '''All open files''' here. If you select '''All open files''', pressing '''Next''' will automatically move focus to the first match in the next open file.

Note: If ''Set 'Find/Replace where' to 'Selected text' if more than one line selected'' is enabled in Settings under [[Settings:Search:Auto reset settings|Settings » Search » Auto reset settings]](it is, by default), then the '''In''' setting will automatically be set to '''Selected text''' if the selection contains more than one line and at least one non-whitespace character.

[[File:Ultraedit find i options.png|left]] '''Advanced options button'''<br>
This button expands the advanced search options which are covered below.

==Advanced search options==
'''Match whole word'''<br>
This option forces the search to match whole words only. This is useful, for example, if you only want to replace 'a', or 'A' without replacing 'a' that occurs as part of a larger word.

'''Match case'''<br>
This option forces the search to match the case of the '''Find what'' string exactl.y This option applies to regular expressions as well.

'''Regular expressions'''<br>
This option enables the use of regular expressions for both the '''Find what''' and '''Replace with''' strings. There are 3 different types of regular expressions available:
* '''Perl'''<br> uses [[Perl regular expressions|Perl style regular expressions]] based on the [[http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_50_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/syntax/perl_syntax.html Boost C++ Libraries]].
* '''UltraEdit'''<br> uses [[Regular expressions|UltraEdit style regular expressions]].
* '''Unix'''<br> uses [[Regular expressions|Unix style regular expressions]].

For information regarding creation of regular expressions see the [[Regular expressions]] or [[Perl regular expressions]] topic.

'''Preserve case'''<br>
This options forces the search to match the case of the '''Replace with''' string with the case of the matched string. The rules for this are as follows:
# If the word found is all lowercase the replacement word will be all lowercase
# If the word found is all UPPERCASE the replacement word will be all UPPERCASE
# If the word found is MixedCase the replacement word will ''match'' the MixedCase of the replacement word

For example, with this option selected, and '''Find what''' set to "The" and '''Replace with''' set to "Then":
* "the" will be replaced with "then"
* "THE" will be replaced with "THEN"
* "The" will be replaced with "Then"

The mixed case scenario requires the '''Replace with''' string to have the same number of uppercase characters as its match so that UltraEdit knows where the (matching) mixed case letters are. For example, a replace consisting of "SomeString" for '''Find what''' and "FooBar" for '''Replace with''' would result in the following matches / replacements:

* "somestring" would be replaced with "foobar"
* "SOMESTRING" would be replaced with "FOOBAR"
* "SomeString" would be replaced with "FooBar"
* "SOMEstring" would be replaced with "FooBar" (case is not preserved, as the number of uppercase characters are not equal between the match and replacement)

'''Replace all is from top of file'''<br>
If checked, the replace will always run from the top of the active file rather than the caret position.

'''Close after replace all'''<br>
This option closes the Replace dialog after a successful '''Replace all''' in which there was at least 1 replacement.

'''In column'''<br>
This option restricts the replace to the user-specified start and end columns. The number entered for the end column must be greater than the number entered for the start column (except when searching an entire line). To search an entire line, use "0" and "-1". Note that column numbering begins with "0" so the initial column value would have to be set to "0" to search from the beginning of a line.

<div class="idm-see-also">
See also:
* [[Find]]
* [[Find in files]]
* [[Replace in files]]
* [[Find string list]]
* [[Hex find]]
* [[Hex replace]]
</div>

Replace

2026-05-12T20:34:15Z

Nadja pollard idera:

[[Category:Home tab]]
<div class="idm-shortcut">Shortcut: <span>Ctrl+R</span></div>
[[File:Hometab_replacecommand.png]]

The replace dialog allows you to search for a specific text string and replace it with a different text string.

Enter the string to search for in the '''Find what''' field, and the replace string to be used in the '''Replace with''' field. Both of these fields support single or multi-line strings up to 20,000 bytes.

If the string is not found, the search wraps around to the other end of the file and continues the search. To configure this behavior, see the [[Settings:Search:Miscellaneous|Settings » Search » Miscellaneous]] help topic.

If the string doesn't exist in the file, UltraEdit will prompt you.

In addition to regular characters and strings, both the '''Find what''' and '''Replace with''' fields support searching for several special characters and strings with special notation. For example, "^t" will match a tab (or insert a tab if part of the '''Replace with''' string). For a complete list of these values, see [[Special search characters]]. These special characters are valuable for matching non-printable text in files.

[[File:Ultraedit find i history.png|left]] '''History button'''<br>
This button displays a scrollable history list for either '''Find what''' or '''Replace with'''.

[[File:Ultraedit find i favorites.png|left]] '''Favorites button'''
This button opens the '''Find what''' or '''Replace with''' favorites menu with the following options:

{|
|Add to Favorites
|adds current item in "Find what" field to Favorites list
|-
|Edit Favorites
|opens Edit [[Find/Replace Favorites]] dialog where you can name favorite search strings, organize the list and remove items from the list
|-
|Favorites
|opens sub-menu to select an existing favorite for the "Find what" string
|-
|}

[[File:Ultraedit find i regexp.png|left]]'''Regular expressions help button'''<br>
This button opens a short regular expression syntax reference for the selected regular expression engine. This button is subdued unless the regular expressions checkbox is checked.

[[File:Ultraedit find i swap.png|left]]'''Swap button'''<br>
This button swaps the contents of the '''Find what''' and '''Replace with''' fields.

'''Next'''<br>
(Note: This button will be labeled "Start" if ''Show slim dialog after start'' is not enabled in Settings under [[Settings:Search:Miscellaneous|Settings » Search » Miscellaneous]] - by default, it is not.) Clicking the '''Next''' button initiates a search for the string in the '''Find What''' field. If the string is not found from the caret position to the end of the file, then the search wraps around to the top of the file and continues the search with a brief notification displayed at the lower-right of the editor window. To configure this behavior, see the [[Settings:Search:Miscellaneous|Settings » Search » Miscellaneous]] help topic.

If the string doesn't exist in the file, UltraEdit will prompt you.

If ''Show slim dialog after start'' '''is''' enabled in Settings under [[Settings:Search:Miscellaneous|Settings » Search » Miscellaneous]] (by default, it is not), then UltraEdit will highlight the first match and open the slim replace dialog. Otherwise, the Replace dialog will remain open.

Once UltraEdit highlights a match, the Replace (or slim replace) dialog offers the following options:

'''Find next'''<br>
Moves to the next match of the '''Find what''' string without making a replacement.

'''Replace'''<br>
Replaces the currently selected match and moves to the next match.

'''Replace all'''<br>
Replaces all matches in the file.

'''Last''' (slim replace dialog only)<br>
Replaces the currently selected match and closes the slim replace dialog.

'''Close'''<br>
Closes the slim replace dialog

'''In'''<br>
You can set the search area to '''Current file''', '''Selected text''' or '''All open files''' here. If you select '''All open files''', pressing '''Next''' will automatically move focus to the first match in the next open file.

Note: If ''Set 'Find/Replace where' to 'Selected text' if more than one line selected'' is enabled in Settings under [[Settings:Search:Auto reset settings|Settings » Search » Auto reset settings]](it is, by default), then the '''In''' setting will automatically be set to '''Selected text''' if the selection contains more than one line and at least one non-whitespace character.

[[File:Ultraedit find i options.png|left]] '''Advanced options button'''<br>
This button expands the advanced search options which are covered below.

==Advanced search options==
'''Match whole word'''<br>
This option forces the search to match whole words only. This is useful, for example, if you only want to replace 'a', or 'A' without replacing 'a' that occurs as part of a larger word.

'''Match case'''<br>
This option forces the search to match the case of the '''Find what'' string exactl.y This option applies to regular expressions as well.

'''Regular expressions'''<br>
This option enables the use of regular expressions for both the '''Find what''' and '''Replace with''' strings. There are 3 different types of regular expressions available:
* '''Perl'''<br> uses [[Perl regular expressions|Perl style regular expressions]] based on the [[http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_50_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/syntax/perl_syntax.html Boost C++ Libraries]].
* '''UltraEdit'''<br> uses [[Regular expressions|UltraEdit style regular expressions]].
* '''Unix'''<br> uses [[Regular expressions|Unix style regular expressions]].

For information regarding creation of regular expressions see the [[Regular expressions]] or [[Perl regular expressions]] topic.

'''Preserve case'''<br>
This options forces the search to match the case of the '''Replace with''' string with the case of the matched string. The rules for this are as follows:
# If the word found is all lowercase the replacement word will be all lowercase
# If the word found is all UPPERCASE the replacement word will be all UPPERCASE
# If the word found is MixedCase the replacement word will ''match'' the MixedCase of the replacement word

For example, with this option selected, and '''Find what''' set to "The" and '''Replace with''' set to "Then":
* "the" will be replaced with "then"
* "THE" will be replaced with "THEN"
* "The" will be replaced with "Then"

The mixed case scenario requires the '''Replace with''' string to have the same number of uppercase characters as its match so that UltraEdit knows where the (matching) mixed case letters are. For example, a replace consisting of "SomeString" for '''Find what''' and "FooBar" for '''Replace with''' would result in the following matches / replacements:

* "somestring" would be replaced with "foobar"
* "SOMESTRING" would be replaced with "FOOBAR"
* "SomeString" would be replaced with "FooBar"
* "SOMEstring" would be replaced with "FooBar" (case is not preserved, as the number of uppercase characters are not equal between the match and replacement)

'''Replace all is from top of file'''<br>
If checked, the replace will always run from the top of the active file rather than the caret position.

'''Close after replace all'''<br>
This option closes the Replace dialog after a successful '''Replace all''' in which there was at least 1 replacement.

'''In column'''<br>
This option restricts the replace to the user-specified start and end columns. The number entered for the end column must be greater than the number entered for the start column (except when searching an entire line). To search an entire line, use "0" and "-1". Note that column numbering begins with "0" so the initial column value would have to be set to "0" to search from the beginning of a line.

<div class="idm-see-also">
See also:
* [[Find]]
* [[Find in files]]
* [[Replace in files]]
* [[Find string list]]
* [[Hex find]]
* [[Hex replace]]
</div>

File:Hometab replacecommand.png

2026-05-12T20:33:00Z

Nadja pollard idera:

Find

2026-05-12T20:08:49Z

Nadja pollard idera:

[[Category:Home tab]]
<div class="idm-shortcut">
Shortcut: <span>Alt+F3</span> or <span>Ctrl+F,F</span>
</div>

[[File:Hometab_findcommand.png|right]]

Enter the string to search for in the '''Find what''' field, which allows a single or multi-line string up to 20,000 bytes. You can search forwards or backwards from the current caret position in the active file by pressing the '''Next''' or '''Previous''' button to initialize the search.

If the string is not found, the search wraps around to the other end of the file and continues the search. To configure this behavior, see the [[Settings:Search:Miscellaneous|Settings » Search » Miscellaneous]] help topic.

If the string doesn't exist in the file, UltraEdit will prompt you.

To select all text between the cursor position and the search target, hold down the '''Shift''' key before pressing the '''Next''' button.

In addition to regular characters and strings, the '''Find what''' field supports searching for several special characters and strings with special notation. For example, "^t" will match a tab. For a complete list of these values, see [[Special search characters]]. These special characters are valuable for matching non-printable text in files.

[[File:Ultraedit find i history.png|left]] '''History button'''<br>
This button displays a scrollable find history list.

[[File:Ultraedit find i favorites.png|left]] '''Favorites button'''
This button opens the search favorites menu with the following options:

{|
|Add to Favorites
|adds current item in "Find what" field to Favorites list
|-
|Edit Favorites
|opens Edit [[Find/Replace Favorites]] dialog where you can name favorite search strings, organize the list and remove items from the list
|-
|Favorites
|opens sub-menu to select an existing favorite for the "Find what" string
|-
|}

[[File:Ultraedit find i regexp.png|left]]'''Regular expressions help button'''<br>
This button opens a short regular expression syntax reference for the selected regular expression engine. This button is subdued unless the regular expressions checkbox is checked.

'''Count all'''<br>
Clicking the Count All button will show the number of occurrences of the "Find what" string in the active file. This information is shown directly in the Find dialog, next to the gear icon.

'''In'''<br>
You can set the search area to '''Current file''', '''Selected text''' or '''All open files''' here. If you select '''All open files''', pressing '''Next''' will automatically move focus to the first match in the next open file.

[[File:Ultraedit find i options.png|left]] '''Advanced options button'''<br>
This button expands the advanced search options which are covered below.

==Advanced search options==
'''Match whole word'''<br>
This option forces the search to match whole words only. This is useful, for example, if you need to search for 'a', or 'A' without finding all words including 'a'.

'''Match case'''<br>
This option forces the search to match the case of the "Find what" string exactly. This option applies to regular expressions as well.

'''Regular expressions'''<br>
This option enables the use of regular expressions for the "Find what" string. There are 3 different types of regular expressions available:
* '''Perl'''<br> uses [[Perl regular expressions|Perl style regular expressions]] based on the [[http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_50_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/syntax/perl_syntax.html Boost C++ Libraries]].
* '''UltraEdit'''<br> uses [[Regular expressions|UltraEdit style regular expressions]].
* '''Unix'''<br> uses [[Regular expressions|Unix style regular expressions]].

For information regarding creation of regular expressions see [[Regular expressions]] or [[Perl regular expressions]] topics.

'''Highlight all items found'''<br>
This option will highlight all matches in the active document as soon as you press the '''Next''' button.

'''List lines containing string'''<br>
This option will list all lines containing the "Find what" string in a separate dockable [[Find string list]] window. Double-clicking on one of the result lines (or selecting it and clicking on Goto in the context menu) will jump to that line in the editor.

'''Bookmark matching lines'''<br>
This option will add a special "find" bookmark to all lines containing the search string as soon as the search is executed. If you wish to remove bookmarks added by a search but still keep your manually set bookmarks, you can do so by going to the [[:Category:Home tab|Home tab]] and clicking '''Bookmarks''' » '''Clear Find bookmarks'''.

'''Close after find'''<br>
This option closes the Find dialog as soon as the first match is found.

'''In column'''<br>
This option restricts the search to the user-specified start and end columns. The number entered for the end column must be greater than the number entered for the start column (except when searching an entire line). To search an entire line, use "0" and "-1". Note that column numbering begins with "0" so the initial column value would have to be set to "0" to search from the beginning of a line.

'''Filter lines'''<br>
If checked, the '''Show''' and '''Hide''' radio buttons activate. If the '''Show''' radio button is selected, all lines not containing a match of the "Find what" string will be hidden, and only lines containing a match will be visible. Conversely, if the '''Hide''' radio button is selected, only lines containing a match of the "Find what" string will be shown, and all other lines will be hidden.

<div class="idm-see-also">
See also:
* [[Replace]]
* [[Find in files]]
* [[Replace in files]]
* [[Find string list]]
* [[Hex find]]
* [[Hex replace]]
</div>

2026-05-08T21:38:46Z

Nadja pollard idera:

[[Category:File menu]]
UltraEdit allows you to edit files greater than 4GB (up to a size of 2^64-1), which can affect performance. You can edit these very large files without using temporary files, which speeds up the process of saving by removing the time necessary to copy to a temporary file.

'''WARNING''': If you set your installation to open files without using a temp file, all changes are permanent!

When this setting is enabled, a warning appears each time a file is opened. You can manage this feature in the Configuration dialog box, accessible by going to '''Advanced > Settings'''. Navigate to '''File Handling > Large Files'''.

[[File:Large_file_configuration.png|right|alt=UltraEdit's Configuration dialog]]

Select one of the following options:
* '''Use temporary file for editing''' to create a temporary file each time a user opens a file.
* '''Open file without temp file but prompt for each file''' allows you to open a file without using a temporary file, and activates a warning prompt each time.
* '''Open file without temp file but NO prompt''' allows you to open a file without using a temporary file, but DOES NOT prompt the user with a warning message upon opening the file.

Numerous options are available for you to manage actions once a large file triggers your set threshold. The '''Large file threshold (KB)''' field lets you a value the designate files that are equal to or larger than this value be loaded without creating a temporary file. Files smaller than the set threshold load normally, creating a temporary file. Setting this value to zero means that all files load without creating a temporary file. Note that the threshold field is applicable only if the option to open files without the temporary file is set.

One threshold option to note is that '''Disable line numbers''' improves the performance when navigating around large files as less disk accesses are required to track the line numbers.