Search and Replace Master

Even though text inside TXT documents is plain, with no customization options, or other functions available, these are used in a large variety of projects, and can even store source code. Working with a large bundle of such files can be a pain, especially when you need to edit content in more files. Luckily, applications like Search and Replace Master help you identify strings of interest, and replace them with updated content.

With the setup process taking only a little time, you’re free to check out the set of features before you realize. A clean main window shows up, with three tabs providing quick access to target options, text to look for, and replace, as well as a list of results you can save to file to keep a log on things.

You’re stuck with the built-in browse menus to find files of interest, and it can be a little frustrating to select folders in a complex structure. File mask, and even name can be specified to narrow down results, with an additional option to look in subfolders as well. You don’t get to pick the exact file, so you need to make sure the generated list only contains the files you want to modify content in.

Before executing the process, it’s a good idea to move to the second tab, so the application knows exactly what it’s looking for in target files. You can add more text strings, which don’t necessarily have to be made of single words. For more variety, and accuracy, there’s an option to take character casing into consideration.

The same rules apply for the new text string, letting you add entire paragraphs. What’s more, you don’t have to necessarily replace a bit of text, with extra options to only search, insert before or after, remove script, or strip Word formatting options from corresponding generated HTML files.

It takes a little while for the application to do its job. Once done, the results tab provides a list of files which benefited from your enhancements, but if you want to save this list, you need to manually copy text into a different file. You might want to create a backup, because original files are overwritten.

All things considered, we come to the conclusion that Search and Replace Master does a good job at identifying text strings inside files, with options to thoroughly configure both input, and output. Replace isn’t the only option, and you can set up different patterns, to look for, and replace with entire strings, not just plain words.