Read the count before you take the result
The number of replacements is the cheapest check there is. Replacing a company name across a contract and seeing 47 when you expected 6 usually means the search matched inside longer words — which is exactly what "Whole word" is for.
A worked example
To turn a list of "Firstname Lastname" into "Lastname, Firstname", turn on regular expressions, search for (\w+) (\w+) and replace with $2, $1. The two bracketed groups are remembered in order, and $1 and $2 put them back the other way round.
When regex is the wrong tool
Leave it off for ordinary text. With regex on, a full stop matches any character, brackets and plus signs change meaning, and a stray one turns a simple swap into a pattern that matches far more than you meant. With it off, everything you type is taken literally.
More free text tools
- Word counterLive word count with reading time, sentences and paragraphs.
- Character counterCharacters with and without spaces, against X, SMS and SEO limits.
- Letter counterCount letters only, with a frequency breakdown for puzzles.
- Text cleanerStrip extra spaces, blank lines and invisible characters in one pass.
- Remove line breaksRejoin text that a PDF or email broke into short lines.
- Text compareDiff two versions and see what was added, removed and left alone.
Frequently asked questions
Is this find and replace free?
Yes, with no account and no length limit.
Does it replace every occurrence?
Yes, all of them at once, and it tells you how many it made. Nothing is replaced in your original text — the result appears beside it, so you can check the count before you take it.
What does "whole word" do?
It stops "cat" from matching inside "catalogue". It only applies when your search starts and ends with a letter, digit or underscore, because a word boundary either side of punctuation would match almost nothing.
Can I use regular expressions?
Yes, with the regex toggle. Capture groups work in the replacement, so searching (\w+) (\w+) and replacing with $2, $1 turns "John Smith" into "Smith, John". An invalid pattern is reported rather than silently doing nothing.
Are dots and brackets treated as special characters?
Not unless regex mode is on. With it off, a full stop means a full stop — searching for "." replaces only actual dots, not every character.
Is my text uploaded?
No. The replacement runs in your browser, so you can edit a contract, a config file or an export without it leaving your device.