If you need to search for and replace a word or phrase in Notepad, then you can use this step-by-step guide to find and replace text in Notepad on Windows 11/10. It is possible to find and replace multiple words or phrases with the help of this guide.
Some free Notepad alternatives, allow you to do this easily, but if you want to do it in the built-in Notepad app, here’s how to go about doing it.
How to find text in Notepad
To find text in Notepad, follow these steps-
- Open Notepad and paste the entire text.
- Click on the Edit option in the top menu bar.
- Select Find from the list.
- Write text that you want to search for in the Find what
- Select the Direction.
- Click the Find Next
So first, you need to paste the entire paragraph in which you want to execute the search. If you already have it in Notepad, you can open the file on your PC. After that, go to the Edit menu and select Find from the list.
Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+F buttons together to open the same prompt.
Now, you need to type that desired text in the Find what box. It can be a single word or multiple words.
Then, select a Direction. It is possible to choose either Up or Down.
- Up: If your cursor is placed at the middle of the paragraph, it will search for the text from the beginning to the cursor position.
- Down: If your cursor is placed in the middle of the paragraph, it will search for the text from the cursor position to the end of the paragraph.
In other terms, the Direction helps you choose a portion of the text so that you get the results quickly. There are two more options – Match case and Wrap around. They will help you to refine the search.
Finally, click the Find Next button to get all the found texts one after one.
How to replace text in Notepad
To replace text in Notepad, follow these steps-
- Open Notepad and paste the entire text.
- Click on the Edit option in the top menu bar.
- Select the Replace option from the list.
- Type what you want to replace in the Find what
- Type the new text in the Replace with
- Click the Replace or Replace All
Open Notepad and paste the entire text or open the file if you already saved the paragraph in Notepad. After that, go to the Edit menu and choose the Replace option. Alternatively, you can press the Ctrl+H buttons together. Now, you need to type two things.
- Find what: This is the text you want to replace in your paragraph.
- Replace with: This is the new text that you want to show instead of the existing text.
After typing both, click the Replace button. It will directly replace the first match in your paragraph.
If you have multiple entries of the same text, you can click the Replace All button to make all the changes at once.
After doing this, don’t forget to save your file.
That’s it!
Read next: How to change the default Character Encoding in Notepad.
