I am writing a batch file script using Windows command-line environment and want to change each occurrence of some text in a file (ex. "FOO") with another (ex. "BAR"). What is the simplest way to do that? Any built in functions?
28 Answers
357
votes
A lot of the answers here helped point me in the right direction, however none were suitable for me, so I am posting my solution.
I have Windows 7, which comes with PowerShell built-in. Here is the script I used to find/replace all instances of text in a file:
powershell -Command "(gc myFile.txt) -replace 'foo', 'bar' | Out-File -encoding ASCII myFile.txt"
To explain it:
powershellstarts up powershell.exe, which is included in Windows 7-Command "... "is a command line arg for powershell.exe containing the command to run(gc myFile.txt)reads the content ofmyFile.txt(gcis short for theGet-Contentcommand)-replace 'foo', 'bar'simply runs the replace command to replacefoowithbar| Out-File myFile.txtpipes the output to the filemyFile.txt-encoding ASCIIprevents transcribing the output file to unicode, as the comments point out
Powershell.exe should be part of your PATH statement already, but if not you can add it. The location of it on my machine is C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
Update
Apparently modern windows systems have PowerShell built in allowing you to access this directly using
(Get-Content myFile.txt) -replace 'foo', 'bar' | Out-File -encoding ASCII myFile.txt
184
votes
If you are on Windows version that supports .Net 2.0, I would replace your shell. PowerShell gives you the full power of .Net from the command line. There are many commandlets built in as well. The example below will solve your question. I'm using the full names of the commands, there are shorter aliases, but this gives you something to Google for.
(Get-Content test.txt) | ForEach-Object { $_ -replace "foo", "bar" } | Set-Content test2.txt
170
votes
Just used FART ("F ind A nd R eplace T ext" command line utility):
excellent little freeware for text replacement within a large set of files.
The setup files are on SourceForge.
Usage example:
fart.exe -p -r -c -- C:\tools\perl-5.8.9\* @@APP_DIR@@ C:\tools
will preview the replacements to do recursively in the files of this Perl distribution.
Only problem: the FART website icon isn't exactly tasteful, refined or elegant ;)
Update 2017 (7 years later) jagb points out in the comments to the 2011 article "FARTing the Easy Way – Find And Replace Text" from Mikail Tunç
As noted by Joe Jobs in the comments (Dec. 2020), if you want to replace &A for instance, you would need to use quotes in order to make sure & is not interpreted by the shell:
fart in.txt "&A" "B"
134
votes
Replace - Replace a substring using string substitution Description: To replace a substring with another string use the string substitution feature. The example shown here replaces all occurrences "teh" misspellings with "the" in the string variable str.
set str=teh cat in teh hat
echo.%str%
set str=%str:teh=the%
echo.%str%
Script Output:
teh cat in teh hat
the cat in the hat
ref: http://www.dostips.com/DtTipsStringManipulation.php#Snippets.Replace
59
votes
Create file replace.vbs:
Const ForReading = 1
Const ForWriting = 2
strFileName = Wscript.Arguments(0)
strOldText = Wscript.Arguments(1)
strNewText = Wscript.Arguments(2)
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strFileName, ForReading)
strText = objFile.ReadAll
objFile.Close
strNewText = Replace(strText, strOldText, strNewText)
Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strFileName, ForWriting)
objFile.Write strNewText 'WriteLine adds extra CR/LF
objFile.Close
To use this revised script (which we’ll call replace.vbs) just type a command similar to this from the command prompt:
cscript replace.vbs "C:\Scripts\Text.txt" "Jim " "James "
51
votes
BatchSubstitute.bat on dostips.com is an example of search and replace using a pure batch file.
It uses a combination of FOR, FIND and CALL SET.
Lines containing characters among "&<>]|^ may be treated incorrectly.
51
votes
Note - Be sure to see the update at the end of this answer for a link to the superior JREPL.BAT that supersedes REPL.BAT
JREPL.BAT 7.0 and above natively supports unicode (UTF-16LE) via the /UTF option, as well as any other character set, including UTF-8, via ADO!!!!
I have written a small hybrid JScript/batch utility called REPL.BAT that is very convenient for modifying ASCII (or extended ASCII) files via the command line or a batch file. The purely native script does not require installation of any 3rd party executeable, and it works on any modern Windows version from XP onward. It is also very fast, especially when compared to pure batch solutions.
REPL.BAT simply reads stdin, performs a JScript regex search and replace, and writes the result to stdout.
Here is a trivial example of how to replace foo with bar in test.txt, assuming REPL.BAT is in your current folder, or better yet, somewhere within your PATH:
type test.txt|repl "foo" "bar" >test.txt.new
move /y test.txt.new test.txt
The JScript regex capabilities make it very powerful, especially the ability of the replacement text to reference captured substrings from the search text.
I've included a number of options in the utility that make it quite powerful. For example, combining the M and X options enable modification of binary files! The M Multi-line option allows searches across multiple lines. The X eXtended substitution pattern option provides escape sequences that enable inclusion of any binary value in the replacement text.
The entire utility could have been written as pure JScript, but the hybrid batch file eliminates the need to explicitly specify CSCRIPT every time you want to use the utility.
Here is the REPL.BAT script. Full documentation is embedded within the script.
@if (@X)==(@Y) @end /* Harmless hybrid line that begins a JScript comment
::************ Documentation ***********
::REPL.BAT version 6.2
:::
:::REPL Search Replace [Options [SourceVar]]
:::REPL /?[REGEX|REPLACE]
:::REPL /V
:::
::: Performs a global regular expression search and replace operation on
::: each line of input from stdin and prints the result to stdout.
:::
::: Each parameter may be optionally enclosed by double quotes. The double
::: quotes are not considered part of the argument. The quotes are required
::: if the parameter contains a batch token delimiter like space, tab, comma,
::: semicolon. The quotes should also be used if the argument contains a
::: batch special character like &, |, etc. so that the special character
::: does not need to be escaped with ^.
:::
::: If called with a single argument of /?, then prints help documentation
::: to stdout. If a single argument of /?REGEX, then opens up Microsoft's
::: JScript regular expression documentation within your browser. If a single
::: argument of /?REPLACE, then opens up Microsoft's JScript REPLACE
::: documentation within your browser.
:::
::: If called with a single argument of /V, case insensitive, then prints
::: the version of REPL.BAT.
:::
::: Search - By default, this is a case sensitive JScript (ECMA) regular
::: expression expressed as a string.
:::
::: JScript regex syntax documentation is available at
::: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ae5bf541(v=vs.80).aspx
:::
::: Replace - By default, this is the string to be used as a replacement for
::: each found search expression. Full support is provided for
::: substituion patterns available to the JScript replace method.
:::
::: For example, $& represents the portion of the source that matched
::: the entire search pattern, $1 represents the first captured
::: submatch, $2 the second captured submatch, etc. A $ literal
::: can be escaped as $$.
:::
::: An empty replacement string must be represented as "".
:::
::: Replace substitution pattern syntax is fully documented at
::: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/efy6s3e6(v=vs.80).aspx
:::
::: Options - An optional string of characters used to alter the behavior
::: of REPL. The option characters are case insensitive, and may
::: appear in any order.
:::
::: A - Only print altered lines. Unaltered lines are discarded.
::: If the S options is present, then prints the result only if
::: there was a change anywhere in the string. The A option is
::: incompatible with the M option unless the S option is present.
:::
::: B - The Search must match the beginning of a line.
::: Mostly used with literal searches.
:::
::: E - The Search must match the end of a line.
::: Mostly used with literal searches.
:::
::: I - Makes the search case-insensitive.
:::
::: J - The Replace argument represents a JScript expression.
::: The expression may access an array like arguments object
::: named $. However, $ is not a true array object.
:::
::: The $.length property contains the total number of arguments
::: available. The $.length value is equal to n+3, where n is the
::: number of capturing left parentheses within the Search string.
:::
::: $[0] is the substring that matched the Search,
::: $[1] through $[n] are the captured submatch strings,
::: $[n+1] is the offset where the match occurred, and
::: $[n+2] is the original source string.
:::
::: Arguments $[0] through $[10] may be abbreviated as
::: $1 through $10. Argument $[11] and above must use the square
::: bracket notation.
:::
::: L - The Search is treated as a string literal instead of a
::: regular expression. Also, all $ found in the Replace string
::: are treated as $ literals.
:::
::: M - Multi-line mode. The entire contents of stdin is read and
::: processed in one pass instead of line by line, thus enabling
::: search for \n. This also enables preservation of the original
::: line terminators. If the M option is not present, then every
::: printed line is terminated with carriage return and line feed.
::: The M option is incompatible with the A option unless the S
::: option is also present.
:::
::: Note: If working with binary data containing NULL bytes,
::: then the M option must be used.
:::
::: S - The source is read from an environment variable instead of
::: from stdin. The name of the source environment variable is
::: specified in the next argument after the option string. Without
::: the M option, ^ anchors the beginning of the string, and $ the
::: end of the string. With the M option, ^ anchors the beginning
::: of a line, and $ the end of a line.
:::
::: V - Search and Replace represent the name of environment
::: variables that contain the respective values. An undefined
::: variable is treated as an empty string.
:::
::: X - Enables extended substitution pattern syntax with support
::: for the following escape sequences within the Replace string:
:::
::: \\ - Backslash
::: \b - Backspace
::: \f - Formfeed
::: \n - Newline
::: \q - Quote
::: \r - Carriage Return
::: \t - Horizontal Tab
::: \v - Vertical Tab
::: \xnn - Extended ASCII byte code expressed as 2 hex digits
::: \unnnn - Unicode character expressed as 4 hex digits
:::
::: Also enables the \q escape sequence for the Search string.
::: The other escape sequences are already standard for a regular
::: expression Search string.
:::
::: Also modifies the behavior of \xnn in the Search string to work
::: properly with extended ASCII byte codes.
:::
::: Extended escape sequences are supported even when the L option
::: is used. Both Search and Replace support all of the extended
::: escape sequences if both the X and L opions are combined.
:::
::: Return Codes: 0 = At least one change was made
::: or the /? or /V option was used
:::
::: 1 = No change was made
:::
::: 2 = Invalid call syntax or incompatible options
:::
::: 3 = JScript runtime error, typically due to invalid regex
:::
::: REPL.BAT was written by Dave Benham, with assistance from DosTips user Aacini
::: to get \xnn to work properly with extended ASCII byte codes. Also assistance
::: from DosTips user penpen diagnosing issues reading NULL bytes, along with a
::: workaround. REPL.BAT was originally posted at:
::: http://www.dostips.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3855
:::
::************ Batch portion ***********
@echo off
if .%2 equ . (
if "%~1" equ "/?" (
<"%~f0" cscript //E:JScript //nologo "%~f0" "^:::" "" a
exit /b 0
) else if /i "%~1" equ "/?regex" (
explorer "http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ae5bf541(v=vs.80).aspx"
exit /b 0
) else if /i "%~1" equ "/?replace" (
explorer "http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/efy6s3e6(v=vs.80).aspx"
exit /b 0
) else if /i "%~1" equ "/V" (
<"%~f0" cscript //E:JScript //nologo "%~f0" "^::(REPL\.BAT version)" "$1" a
exit /b 0
) else (
call :err "Insufficient arguments"
exit /b 2
)
)
echo(%~3|findstr /i "[^SMILEBVXAJ]" >nul && (
call :err "Invalid option(s)"
exit /b 2
)
echo(%~3|findstr /i "M"|findstr /i "A"|findstr /vi "S" >nul && (
call :err "Incompatible options"
exit /b 2
)
cscript //E:JScript //nologo "%~f0" %*
exit /b %errorlevel%
:err
>&2 echo ERROR: %~1. Use REPL /? to get help.
exit /b
************* JScript portion **********/
var rtn=1;
try {
var env=WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Environment("Process");
var args=WScript.Arguments;
var search=args.Item(0);
var replace=args.Item(1);
var options="g";
if (args.length>2) options+=args.Item(2).toLowerCase();
var multi=(options.indexOf("m")>=0);
var alterations=(options.indexOf("a")>=0);
if (alterations) options=options.replace(/a/g,"");
var srcVar=(options.indexOf("s")>=0);
if (srcVar) options=options.replace(/s/g,"");
var jexpr=(options.indexOf("j")>=0);
if (jexpr) options=options.replace(/j/g,"");
if (options.indexOf("v")>=0) {
options=options.replace(/v/g,"");
search=env(search);
replace=env(replace);
}
if (options.indexOf("x")>=0) {
options=options.replace(/x/g,"");
if (!jexpr) {
replace=replace.replace(/\\\\/g,"\\B");
replace=replace.replace(/\\q/g,"\"");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x80/g,"\\u20AC");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x82/g,"\\u201A");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x83/g,"\\u0192");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x84/g,"\\u201E");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x85/g,"\\u2026");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x86/g,"\\u2020");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x87/g,"\\u2021");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x88/g,"\\u02C6");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x89/g,"\\u2030");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x8[aA]/g,"\\u0160");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x8[bB]/g,"\\u2039");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x8[cC]/g,"\\u0152");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x8[eE]/g,"\\u017D");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x91/g,"\\u2018");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x92/g,"\\u2019");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x93/g,"\\u201C");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x94/g,"\\u201D");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x95/g,"\\u2022");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x96/g,"\\u2013");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x97/g,"\\u2014");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x98/g,"\\u02DC");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x99/g,"\\u2122");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x9[aA]/g,"\\u0161");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x9[bB]/g,"\\u203A");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x9[cC]/g,"\\u0153");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x9[dD]/g,"\\u009D");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x9[eE]/g,"\\u017E");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x9[fF]/g,"\\u0178");
replace=replace.replace(/\\b/g,"\b");
replace=replace.replace(/\\f/g,"\f");
replace=replace.replace(/\\n/g,"\n");
replace=replace.replace(/\\r/g,"\r");
replace=replace.replace(/\\t/g,"\t");
replace=replace.replace(/\\v/g,"\v");
replace=replace.replace(/\\x[0-9a-fA-F]{2}|\\u[0-9a-fA-F]{4}/g,
function($0,$1,$2){
return String.fromCharCode(parseInt("0x"+$0.substring(2)));
}
);
replace=replace.replace(/\\B/g,"\\");
}
search=search.replace(/\\\\/g,"\\B");
search=search.replace(/\\q/g,"\"");
search=search.replace(/\\x80/g,"\\u20AC");
search=search.replace(/\\x82/g,"\\u201A");
search=search.replace(/\\x83/g,"\\u0192");
search=search.replace(/\\x84/g,"\\u201E");
search=search.replace(/\\x85/g,"\\u2026");
search=search.replace(/\\x86/g,"\\u2020");
search=search.replace(/\\x87/g,"\\u2021");
search=search.replace(/\\x88/g,"\\u02C6");
search=search.replace(/\\x89/g,"\\u2030");
search=search.replace(/\\x8[aA]/g,"\\u0160");
search=search.replace(/\\x8[bB]/g,"\\u2039");
search=search.replace(/\\x8[cC]/g,"\\u0152");
search=search.replace(/\\x8[eE]/g,"\\u017D");
search=search.replace(/\\x91/g,"\\u2018");
search=search.replace(/\\x92/g,"\\u2019");
search=search.replace(/\\x93/g,"\\u201C");
search=search.replace(/\\x94/g,"\\u201D");
search=search.replace(/\\x95/g,"\\u2022");
search=search.replace(/\\x96/g,"\\u2013");
search=search.replace(/\\x97/g,"\\u2014");
search=search.replace(/\\x98/g,"\\u02DC");
search=search.replace(/\\x99/g,"\\u2122");
search=search.replace(/\\x9[aA]/g,"\\u0161");
search=search.replace(/\\x9[bB]/g,"\\u203A");
search=search.replace(/\\x9[cC]/g,"\\u0153");
search=search.replace(/\\x9[dD]/g,"\\u009D");
search=search.replace(/\\x9[eE]/g,"\\u017E");
search=search.replace(/\\x9[fF]/g,"\\u0178");
if (options.indexOf("l")>=0) {
search=search.replace(/\\b/g,"\b");
search=search.replace(/\\f/g,"\f");
search=search.replace(/\\n/g,"\n");
search=search.replace(/\\r/g,"\r");
search=search.replace(/\\t/g,"\t");
search=search.replace(/\\v/g,"\v");
search=search.replace(/\\x[0-9a-fA-F]{2}|\\u[0-9a-fA-F]{4}/g,
function($0,$1,$2){
return String.fromCharCode(parseInt("0x"+$0.substring(2)));
}
);
search=search.replace(/\\B/g,"\\");
} else search=search.replace(/\\B/g,"\\\\");
}
if (options.indexOf("l")>=0) {
options=options.replace(/l/g,"");
search=search.replace(/([.^$*+?()[{\\|])/g,"\\$1");
if (!jexpr) replace=replace.replace(/\$/g,"$$$$");
}
if (options.indexOf("b")>=0) {
options=options.replace(/b/g,"");
search="^"+search
}
if (options.indexOf("e")>=0) {
options=options.replace(/e/g,"");
search=search+"$"
}
var search=new RegExp(search,options);
var str1, str2;
if (srcVar) {
str1=env(args.Item(3));
str2=str1.replace(search,jexpr?replFunc:replace);
if (!alterations || str1!=str2) if (multi) {
WScript.Stdout.Write(str2);
} else {
WScript.Stdout.WriteLine(str2);
}
if (str1!=str2) rtn=0;
} else if (multi){
var buf=1024;
str1="";
while (!WScript.StdIn.AtEndOfStream) {
str1+=WScript.StdIn.Read(buf);
buf*=2
}
str2=str1.replace(search,jexpr?replFunc:replace);
WScript.Stdout.Write(str2);
if (str1!=str2) rtn=0;
} else {
while (!WScript.StdIn.AtEndOfStream) {
str1=WScript.StdIn.ReadLine();
str2=str1.replace(search,jexpr?replFunc:replace);
if (!alterations || str1!=str2) WScript.Stdout.WriteLine(str2);
if (str1!=str2) rtn=0;
}
}
} catch(e) {
WScript.Stderr.WriteLine("JScript runtime error: "+e.message);
rtn=3;
}
WScript.Quit(rtn);
function replFunc($0, $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10) {
var $=arguments;
return(eval(replace));
}
IMPORTANT UPDATE
I have ceased development of REPL.BAT, and replaced it with JREPL.BAT. This newer utility has all the same functionality of REPL.BAT, plus much more:
- Unicode UTF-16LE support via native CSCRIPT unicode capabilities, and any other character set (including UTF-8) via ADO.
- Read directly from / write directly to a file: no need for pipes, redirection, or move command.
- Incorporate user supplied JScript
- Translation facility similar to unix tr, only it also supports regex search and JScript replace
- Discard non-matching text
- Prefix output lines with line number
- and more...
As always, full documentation is embedded within the script.
The original trivial solution is now even simpler:
jrepl "foo" "bar" /f test.txt /o -
The current version of JREPL.BAT is available at DosTips. Read all of the subsequent posts in the thread to see examples of usage and a history of the development.
38
votes
Use FNR
Use the fnr utility. It's got some advantages over fart:
- Regular expressions
- Optional GUI. Has a "Generate command line button" to create command line text to put in batch file.
- Multi-line patterns: The GUI allows you to easily work with multi-line patterns. In FART you'd have to manually escape line breaks.
- Allows you to select text file encoding. Also has an auto detect option.
Download FNR here: http://findandreplace.io/?z=codeplex
Usage example:
fnr --cl --dir "<Directory Path>" --fileMask "hibernate.*" --useRegEx --find "find_str_expression" --replace "replace_string"
27
votes
25
votes
I know I am late to the party..
Personally, I like the solution at: - http://www.dostips.com/DtTipsStringManipulation.php#Snippets.Replace
We also, use the Dedupe Function extensively to help us deliver approximately 500 e-mails daily via SMTP from: - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.msdos.batch.nt/sj8IUhMOq6o
and these both work natively with no extra tools or utilities needed.
REPLACER:
DEL New.txt
setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
For /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in (OLD.txt) do (
Set str=%%a
set str=!str:FOO=BAR!
echo !str!>>New.txt
)
ENDLOCAL
DEDUPLICATOR (note the use of -9 for an ABA number):
REM DE-DUPLICATE THE Mapping.txt FILE
REM THE DE-DUPLICATED FILE IS STORED AS new.txt
set MapFile=Mapping.txt
set ReplaceFile=New.txt
del %ReplaceFile%
::DelDupeText.bat
rem https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.msdos.batch.nt/sj8IUhMOq6o
setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /f "tokens=1,2 delims=," %%a in (%MapFile%) do (
set str=%%a
rem Ref: http://www.dostips.com/DtTipsStringManipulation.php#Snippets.RightString
set str=!str:~-9!
set str2=%%a
set str3=%%a,%%b
find /i ^"!str!^" %MapFile%
find /i ^"!str!^" %ReplaceFile%
if errorlevel 1 echo !str3!>>%ReplaceFile%
)
ENDLOCAL
Thanks!
15
votes
When you work with Git on Windows then simply fire up git-bash
and use sed. Or, when using Windows 10, start "Bash on Ubuntu on Windows" (from the Linux subsystem) and use sed.
Its a stream editor, but can edit files directly by using the following command:
sed -i -e 's/foo/bar/g' filename
-ioption is used to edit in place on filename.-eoption indicates a command to run.sis used to replace the found expression "foo" with "bar" andgis used to replace any found matches.
Note by ereOn:
If you want to replace a string in versioned files only of a Git repository, you may want to use:
git ls-files <eventual subfolders & filters> | xargs sed -i -e 's/foo/bar/g'
which works wonders.
14
votes
I played around with some of the existing answers here and prefer my improved solution...
type test.txt | powershell -Command "$input | ForEach-Object { $_ -replace \"foo\", \"bar\" }"
or if you want to save the output again to a file...
type test.txt | powershell -Command "$input | ForEach-Object { $_ -replace \"foo\", \"bar\" }" > outputFile.txt
The benefit of this is that you can pipe in output from any program. Will look into using regular expressions with this too. Couldn't work out how to make it into a BAT file for easier use though... :-(
13
votes
I have used perl, and that works marvelously.
perl -pi.orig -e "s/<textToReplace>/<textToReplaceWith>/g;" <fileName>
.orig is the extension it would append to the original file
For a number of files matching such as *.html
for %x in (<filePattern>) do perl -pi.orig -e "s/<textToReplace>/<textToReplaceWith>/g;" %x
11
votes
With the replacer.bat
1) With e? option that will evaluate special character sequences like \n\r and unicode sequences. In this case will replace quoted "Foo" and "Bar":
call replacer.bat "e?C:\content.txt" "\u0022Foo\u0022" "\u0022Bar\u0022"
2) Straightforward replacing where the Foo and Bar are not quoted.
call replacer.bat "C:\content.txt" "Foo" "Bar"
9
votes
Here's a solution that I found worked on Win XP. In my running batch file, I included the following:
set value=new_value
:: Setup initial configuration
:: I use && as the delimiter in the file because it should not exist, thereby giving me the whole line
::
echo --> Setting configuration and properties.
for /f "tokens=* delims=&&" %%a in (config\config.txt) do (
call replace.bat "%%a" _KEY_ %value% config\temp.txt
)
del config\config.txt
rename config\temp.txt config.txt
The replace.bat file is as below. I did not find a way to include that function within the same batch file, because the %%a variable always seems to give the last value in the for loop.
replace.bat:
@echo off
:: This ensures the parameters are resolved prior to the internal variable
::
SetLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
:: Replaces Key Variables
::
:: Parameters:
:: %1 = Line to search for replacement
:: %2 = Key to replace
:: %3 = Value to replace key with
:: %4 = File in which to write the replacement
::
:: Read in line without the surrounding double quotes (use ~)
::
set line=%~1
:: Write line to specified file, replacing key (%2) with value (%3)
::
echo !line:%2=%3! >> %4
:: Restore delayed expansion
::
EndLocal
7
votes
Take a look at Is there any sed like utility for cmd.exe which asked for a sed equivalent under Windows, should apply to this question as well. Executive summary:
- It can be done in batch file, but it's not pretty
- Lots of available third party executables that will do it for you, if you have the luxury of installing or just copying over an exe
- Can be done with VBScript or similar if you need something able to run on a Windows box without modification etc.
5
votes
5
votes
Two batch files that supply search and replace functions have been written by Stack Overflow members dbenham and aacini using native built-in jscript in Windows.
They are both robust and very swift with large files compared to plain batch scripting, and also simpler to use for basic replacing of text. They both have Windows regular expression pattern matching.
This
sed-likehelper batch file is calledrepl.bat(by dbenham).Example using the
Lliteral switch:echo This is FOO here|repl "FOO" "BAR" L echo and with a file: type "file.txt" |repl "FOO" "BAR" L >"newfile.txt"This
grep-likehelper batch file is calledfindrepl.bat(by aacini).Example which has regular expressions active:
echo This is FOO here|findrepl "FOO" "BAR" echo and with a file: type "file.txt" |findrepl "FOO" "BAR" >"newfile.txt"
Both become powerful system-wide utilities when placed in a folder that is on the path, or can be used in the same folder with a batch file, or from the cmd prompt.
They both have case-insensitive switches and also many other functions.
4
votes
May be a little bit late, but I am frequently looking for similar stuff, since I don't want to get through the pain of getting software approved.
However, you usually use the FOR statement in various forms. Someone created a useful batch file that does a search and replace. Have a look here. It is important to understand the limitations of the batch file provided. For this reason I don't copy the source code in this answer.
4
votes
I'm prefer to use sed from GNU utilities for Win32, the followings need to be noted
- single quote
''won't work in windows, use""insteadsed -iwon't work in windows, it will need file swapping
So the working code of sed to find and replace text in a file in windows is as below
sed -e "s/foo/bar/g" test.txt > tmp.txt && mv tmp.txt test.txt
3
votes
Just faced a similar problem - "Search and replace text within files", but with the exception that for both filenames and search/repalce I need to use regex. Because I'm not familiar with Powershell and want to save my searches for later use I need something more "user friendly" (preferable if it has GUI).
So, while Googling :) I found a great tool - FAR (Find And Replace) (not FART).
That little program has nice GUI and support regex for searching in filenames and within files. Only disadventage is that if you want to save your settings you have to run the program as an administrator (at least on Win7).
3
votes
2
votes
This is one thing that batch scripting just does not do well.
The script morechilli linked to will work for some files, but unfortunately it will choke on ones which contain characters such as pipes and ampersands.
VBScript is a better built-in tool for this task. See this article for an example: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/qanda/feb05/hey0208.mspx
2
votes
@Rachel gave an excellent answer but here is a variation of it to read content to a powershell $data variable. You may then easily manipulate content multiple times before writing to a output file. Also see how multi-line values are given in a .bat batch files.
@REM ASCII=7bit ascii(no bom), UTF8=with bom marker
set cmd=^
$old = '\$Param1\$'; ^
$new = 'Value1'; ^
[string[]]$data = Get-Content 'datafile.txt'; ^
$data = $data -replace $old, $new; ^
out-file -InputObject $data -encoding UTF8 -filepath 'datafile.txt';
powershell -NoLogo -Noninteractive -InputFormat none -Command "%cmd%"
1
votes
0
votes
Can also see the Replace and ReplaceFilter tools at https://zoomicon.github.io/tranXform/ (source included). The 2nd one is a filter.
The tool that replaces strings in files is in VBScript (needs Windows Script Host [WSH] to run in old Windows versions)
The filter is probably not working with Unicode unless you recompile with latest Delphi (or with FreePascal/Lazarus)
0
votes
Powershell Command -
Getting content of the file and replacing it with some other text and then storing into another file
Command -1 (Get-Content filename.xml)| ForEach-Object { $_.replace("some_text","replace_text").replace("some_other_text","replace_text") } | Set-Content filename2.xml
Copying another file into the original one file
Command2
Copy-Item -Path filename2.xml -Destination filename.xml -PassThru
removing another one file
Command 3
Remove-Item filename2.xml
-5
votes
I have faced this problem several times while coding under Visual C++. If you have it, you can use Visual studio Find and Replace Utility. It allows you to select a folder and replace the contents of any file in that folder with any other text you want.
Under Visual Studio: Edit -> Find and Replace In the opened dialog, select your folder and fill in "Find What" and "Replace With" boxes. Hope this will be helpful.
echo(%text:%search%=%replace%%)– user9556248