replace

Replace existing files in a directory. If used with the /a option, this command adds new files to a directory instead of replacing existing files.

Syntax

Parameters

] Specifies the location and name of the source file or set of files. The filename option is required, and can include wildcard characters (* and ?). [ :][

] Specifies the location of the destination file. You can’t specify a file name for files you replace. If you don’t specify a drive or path, this command uses the current drive and directory as the destination. /a Adds new files to the destination directory instead of replacing existing files. You can’t use this command-line option with the /s or /u command-line option. /p Prompts you for confirmation before replacing a destination file or adding a source file. /r Replaces Read-only and unprotected files. If you attempt to replace a Read-only file, but you don’t specify /r, an error results and stops the replacement operation. /w Waits for you to insert a disk before the search for source files begins. If you don’t specify /w, this command begins replacing or adding files immediately after you press ENTER. /s Searches all subdirectories in the destination directory and replaces matching files. You can’t use /s with the /a command-line option. The command doesn’t search subdirectories that are specified in Path1. /u Replaces only those files on the destination directory that are older than those in the source directory. You can’t use /u with the /a command-line option. /? Displays help at the command prompt.

Remarks

As this command adds or replaces files, the file names appear on the screen. After this command is done, a summary line is displayed in one of the following formats:

If you’re using floppy disks and you need to switch disks while running this command, you can specify the /w command-line option so that this command waits for you to switch the disks.

You can’t use this command to update hidden files or system files.

The following table shows each exit code and a brief description of its meaning:

Exit code	Description
0	This command successfully replaced or added the files.
1	This command encountered an incorrect version of MS-DOS.
2	This command couldn’t find the source files.
3	This command couldn’t find the source or destination path.
5	The user doesn’t have access to the files that you want to replace.
8	There is insufficient system memory to carry out the command.
11	The user used the wrong syntax on the command line.

You can use the ERRORLEVEL parameter on the if command line in a batch program to process exit codes that are returned by this command.

Find and replace text

You can find and replace text in the Visual Studio editor by using Find and Replace (Ctrl+F or Ctrl+H) or Find/Replace in Files (Ctrl+Shift+F or Ctrl+Shift+H). You can also find and replace only some instances of a pattern by using multi-caret selection.

If you’re renaming code symbols such as variables and methods, it’s better to refactor them than to use find-and-replace. Refactoring is intelligent and understands scope, whereas find-and-replace blindly replaces all instances.

Find-and-replace functionality is available in the editor, in certain other text-based windows such as the Find Results windows, in designer windows such as the XAML designer and Windows Forms designer, and in tool windows.

You can scope searches to the current document, the current solution, or a custom set of folders. You can also specify a set of file name extensions for multi-file searches. Customize search syntax by using .NET regular expressions.

The Find/Command box is available as a toolbar control, but isn’t visible by default. To display the Find/Command box, select Add or Remove Buttons on the Standard toolbar, and then select Find.

Find and Replace control

• Press Ctrl+F as a shortcut to find a string in the current file.
• Press Ctrl+H as a shortcut to find and replace a string in the current file.

The Find and Replace control appears in the upper right corner of the code editor window. It immediately highlights every occurrence of the given search string in the current document. You can navigate from one occurrence to another by choosing the Find Next button or the Find Previous button on the search control.

You can access replacement options by choosing the button next to the Find text box. To make one replacement at a time, choose the Replace Next button next to the Replace text box. To replace all matches, choose the Replace All button.

To change the highlight color for matches, choose the Tools menu, select Options, and then choose Environment, and select Fonts and Colors. In the Show settings for list, select Text Editor, and then in the Display items list, select Find Highlight (Extension).

Search tool windows

You can use the Find control in code or text windows, such as Output windows and Find Results windows, by selecting Edit > Find and Replace or pressing Ctrl+F.

A version of the Find control is also available in some tool windows. For example, you can filter the list of controls in the Toolbox window by entering text in the search box. Other tool windows that allow you to search their contents include Solution Explorer, the Properties window, and Team Explorer.

Find in Files and Replace in Files

• Press Ctrl+Shift+F as a shortcut to find a string in multiple files.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+H as a shortcut to find and replace a string in multiple files.

Find/Replace in Files works like the Find and Replace control, except that you can define a scope for your search. Not only can you search the current open file in the editor, but also all open documents, the entire solution, the current project, and selected folder sets. You can also search by file name extension. To access the Find/Replace in Files dialog box, select Find and Replace on the Edit menu (or press Ctrl+Shift+F).

Find Results

When you choose Find All, a Find Results window opens and lists the matches for your search. Selecting a result in the list displays the associated file and highlights the match. If the file is not already open for editing, it is opened in a preview tab in the right side of the tab well. You can use the Find control to search through the Find Results list.

Create custom search folder sets

You can define a search scope by choosing the Choose Search Folders button (it looks like . ) next to the Look in box. In the Choose Search Folders dialog box, you can specify a set of folders to search, and you can save the specification so that you can reuse it later.

If you’ve mapped a remote machine’s drive to your local machine, you can specify folders to search on the remote machine.

Create custom component sets

You can define component sets as your search scope by choosing the Edit Custom Component Set button next to the Look in box. You can specify installed .NET or COM components, Visual Studio projects that are included in your solution, or any assembly or type library (.dll, .tlb, .olb, .exe, or .ocx). To search references, select the Look in references box.

Multi-caret selection

This section applies to Visual Studio on Windows. For Visual Studio for Mac, see Block selection.

Introduced in Visual Studio 2017 version 15.8

Use multi-caret selection to make the same edit in two or more places at the same time. For example, you can insert the same text or modify existing text in multiple locations at the same time.

In the following screenshot, -0000 is selected in three locations; if the user presses Delete, all three selections are deleted:

To select multiple carets, click or make first text selection as usual, and then press Alt while you click or select text in each additional location. You can also automatically add matching text as additional selections, or select a box of text to edit identically on each line.

If you’ve selected Alt as the modifier key for mouse-click Go to Definition in Tools > Options, multi-caret select is disabled.

Commands

Use the following keys and actions for multi-caret selection behaviors:

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Alt + click	Add a secondary caret
Ctrl+Alt + double-click	Add a secondary word selection
Ctrl+Alt + click + drag	Add a secondary selection
Shift+Alt+.	Add the next matching text as a selection
Shift+Alt+;	Add all matching text as selections
Shift+Alt+,	Remove last selected occurrence
Shift+Alt+/	Skip next matching occurrence
Alt + click	Add a box selection
Esc or click	Clear all selections

Some of the commands are also available on the Edit menu, under Multiple Carets:

Command line find and replace windows

Searches for a string of text in a file or files, and displays lines of text that contain the specified string.

Syntax

Parameters

Parameter	Description
/v	Displays all lines that don’t contain the specified .
/c	Counts the lines that contain the specified and displays the total.
/n	Precedes each line with the file’s line number.
/i	Specifies that the search is not case-sensitive.
[/off[line]]	Doesn’t skip files that have the offline attribute set.
Required. Specifies the group of characters (enclosed in quotation marks) that you want to search for.
[ :][

] Specifies the location and name of the file in which to search for the specified string. /? Displays help at the command prompt.

Remarks

If you don’t use /i, this command searches for exactly what you specify for string. For example, this command treats the characters a and A differently. If you use /i, however, the search becomes non-case-sensitive, and it treats a and A as the same character.

If the string you want to search for contains quotation marks, you must use double quotation marks for each quotation mark contained within the string (for example, «»This string contains quotation marks»»).

If you omit a file name, this command acts as a filter, taking input from the standard input source (usually the keyboard, a pipe (|), or a redirected file) and then displays any lines that contain string.

You can type parameters and command-line options for the find command in any order.

You can’t use wildcards (* and ?) in file names or extensions that you specify while using this command. To search for a string in a set of files that you specify with wildcards, you can use this command within a for command.

If you use /c and /v in the same command line, this command displays a count of the lines that don’t contain the specified string. If you specify /c and /n in the same command line, find ignores /n.

This command doesn’t recognize carriage returns. When you use this command to search for text in a file that includes carriage returns, you must limit the search string to text that can be found between carriage returns (that is, a string that is not likely to be interrupted by a carriage return). For example, this command doesn’t report a match for the string tax file if a carriage return occurs between the words tax and file.

Examples

To display all lines from pencil.ad that contain the string pencil sharpener, type:

To find the text, «The scientists labeled their paper for discussion only. It is not a final report.» in the report.doc file, type:

To search for a set of files, you can use the find command within the for command. To search the current directory for files that have the extension .bat and that contain the string PROMPT, type:

To search your hard disk to find and display the file names on drive C that contain the string CPU, use the pipe (|) to direct the output of the dir command to the find command as follows:

Because find searches are case-sensitive and dir produces uppercase output, you must either type the string CPU in uppercase letters or use the /i command-line option with find.