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SearchReplaceText

What is it?

The SearchReplaceText node allows you to perform search and replace operations on multiline text content. It supports both simple text replacement and regular expression-based search and replace.

When would I use it?

Use the SearchReplaceText node when:

  • You need to modify multiline text by replacing specific patterns
  • You want to perform case-sensitive or case-insensitive text replacement
  • You need to use regular expressions for complex pattern matching
  • You want to replace either all occurrences or just the first occurrence of a pattern
  • You need to work with text that contains multiple lines or paragraphs

How to use it

Basic Setup

  1. Add a SearchReplaceText node to your workflow
  2. Connect or set the input text (can be multiline)
  3. Set the search pattern
  4. Set the replacement text (can be multiline)
  5. Configure additional options as needed
  6. Connect the output to nodes that accept text input

Parameters

  • input_text: The multiline text to perform search and replace on (string)
  • search_pattern: The text or pattern to search for (string)
  • replacement_text: The multiline text to replace the search pattern with (string)
  • case_sensitive: Whether the search should be case sensitive (boolean, default: true)
  • use_regex: Whether to treat the search pattern as a regular expression (boolean, default: false)
  • replace_all: Whether to replace all occurrences or just the first one (boolean, default: true)

Outputs

  • output: The multiline text after performing search and replace (string)

Examples

Simple Text Replacement

  1. Add a SearchReplaceText node to your workflow
  2. Set the input text to: 
    Hello World
Welcome to Griptape
  3. Set the search pattern to: "World"
  4. Set the replacement text to: "Griptape"
  5. The output will be: 
    Hello Griptape
Welcome to Griptape

Case-Insensitive Replacement

  1. Add a SearchReplaceText node to your workflow
  2. Set the input text to: 
    Hello WORLD
Welcome to the WORLD
  3. Set the search pattern to: "world"
  4. Set the replacement text to: "Griptape"
  5. Set case_sensitive to: false
  6. The output will be: 
    Hello Griptape
Welcome to the Griptape

Regular Expression Examples

Basic Regex Patterns

Input: "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3"
Search Pattern: "Line \\d"
Replacement: "Item"
Use Regex: true
Output: "Item\nItem\nItem"

This pattern matches "Line" followed by any digit (\d).

Removing Numbers

Input: "Product123, Item456, Order789"
Search Pattern: "\\d+"
Replacement: ""
Use Regex: true
Output: "Product, Item, Order"

This pattern matches one or more digits (\d+).

Word Boundaries

Input: "cat in the hat"
Search Pattern: "\\bcat\\b"
Replacement: "dog"
Use Regex: true
Output: "dog in the hat"

This pattern matches the word "cat" only when it appears as a complete word.

Multiple Lines

Input: "First line\nSecond line\nThird line"
Search Pattern: "^.*$"
Replacement: "New line"
Use Regex: true
Output: "New line\nNew line\nNew line"

This pattern matches entire lines (^ start, .* any characters, $ end).

Regex Reference

Common Regex Patterns

Pattern Description Example
\n Match a newline Line 1\nLine 2
\s Match any whitespace Hello\sWorld
\d Match any digit \d+ matches "123"
[a-z] Match any lowercase letter [a-z]+ matches "hello"
[A-Z] Match any uppercase letter [A-Z]+ matches "WORLD"
. Match any character a.c matches "abc"
* Match 0 or more a* matches "", "a", "aa"
+ Match 1 or more a+ matches "a", "aa"
? Match 0 or 1 a? matches "", "a"
\b Word boundary \bcat\b matches "cat" but not "catch"

Regex Mode

When using regex mode, special characters in the search pattern are treated as regex syntax. Make sure to escape special characters if you want to match them literally.

Plain Text Mode

When not using regex mode, the search pattern is treated as literal text, and special characters are escaped automatically. This is safer for simple text replacements.

Important Notes

  • When using regular expressions, make sure to properly escape special characters
  • Case-insensitive search works for both plain text and regular expressions
  • If the search pattern is not found, the original text is returned unchanged
  • Invalid regular expressions will result in the original text being returned
  • The node preserves the original case of the text when doing case-insensitive replacements
  • Newlines are preserved in both input and output text
  • When using regex mode, you can use \\n to match newlines in the search pattern

Common Issues

  • Regular expression syntax errors when use_regex is enabled
  • Unexpected results when mixing case-sensitive and case-insensitive operations
  • Performance impact with very large texts and complex regular expressions
  • Incorrect handling of newlines when not using regex mode

Additional Resources

For more comprehensive regex examples and patterns, check out: