replace a string with a regex in multiple files

Question

I have more than 10000 text files that I want to replace the string searchResult with a regex in that specific text file using Notepad++ or PowerShell. For example here is one of the text files:

searchresult : [{"name": myRegexMatch .....}

After substitution:

myRegexMatch : [{"name": myRegexMatch .....}

The regex match is different in every file. I just want to replace searchResult in every single file with the regex in that file.

First off, please see Help Center - Asking. There are a ton of resources there on how to properly ask a question including editing help (formatting) and what you should include in your question to make it a Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable example. I can foresee many issues with what you've given us as an example and what potential answers you may receive. Ever tried to match a regex pattern with regex? It's not easy. — ctwheels
– ctwheels, Commented Feb 27, 2018 at 18:39
Your question could be much clearer if you were to provide a more detailed example with real values. — jkdba
– jkdba, Commented Feb 27, 2018 at 21:27

HeedfulCrayon · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-27 19:04:42Z

4

This should kind of get you started

$regex = '(?<=searchresult\s:\s\[{"name":\s).*(?=})'
Get-ChildItem $pathToFiles -Recurse  | Where-Object { -not $_.PSIsContainer } |
ForEach-Object {
    $text = (Get-Content $_ -Raw)
    $value = [regex]::Match($text, $regex).Groups[1].Value
    $text -replace "searchresult",$value | Set-Content -path $_
}

edited Feb 27, 2018 at 19:04

answered Feb 27, 2018 at 18:50

HeedfulCrayon

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8 Comments

john sadeghi Over a year ago

Hi. there is just one searchResult in each file

HeedfulCrayon Over a year ago

@johnsadeghi Are you just looking for the regex to match that scenario? Or do you need the powershell method of how to do it?

john sadeghi Over a year ago

I can do simple find and replace string with regex manually in every file. but there is more than 10000 files and I am looking for powershell method to do it it once.

HeedfulCrayon Over a year ago

@johnsadeghi Make sure to upvote and mark this as the answer so that other people can be helped by it as well

jkdba Over a year ago

If your text documents are large I would be careful with reading and storing the entire document in memory. If this is the case you can always go for an iterative approach across the pipeline Get-Content $_ -Raw | % { #perform replace | Set-Content -Path $_ -Append } or using the underlying .Net File\Streaming classes or at the very least reading the data in chucks, to perform this type of operation in a memory performant way.

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