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Find and replace text using regular expressions

Last modified: 25 October 2023

When you want to search and replace specific patterns of text, use regular expressions. They can help you in pattern matching, parsing, filtering of results, and so on. Once you learn the regex syntax, you can use it for almost any language.

Use regex capturing groups and backreferences

You can put the regular expressions inside brackets in order to group them. Each group has a number starting with 1, so you can refer to (backreference) them in your replace pattern. Note that the group 0 refers to the entire regular expression. However, you can refer to the captured group not only by a number $n, but also by a name ${name}.

For example, for the numbered capturing groups, use the following syntax:

<h2>(.*?)</h2>

For the named capturing groups, use the following syntax:

<h2>(?<title>.*?)</h2>

Find and replace a captured group

Let's consider the following XML code: 

<new product="ij" category="105" title="Multiline search and replace in the current file"/>
<new product="ij" category="105" title="Improved search and replace in the current file"/>
<new product="ij" category="105" title="Regexp shows replacement preview"/>

  1. Open the search and replace pane Ctrl0R.

  2. In the search field, enter parentheses () that would indicate a capturing group, for example: \stitle="(.*)?"\s*(/>*).

  3. In the replace field, backreference such groups by numbers starting with 1, for example: 

    $2<title>$1</title>

  4. CLion highlights the found occurrences based on your search specifications and displays hints with the replace string.

Switch the character case

You can use regular expressions to change the case of characters that matches some criteria.

See also

Procedures

Reference

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