Replace multiple strings in multiple files

Question

I am trying to replace multiple strings in all files within a folder. The problem is that -replace operator does not take into account the exact words that I need to replace for example:

I need to replace strings:

RUN → Run
RUNMODAL → RunModal

Now when I run my script it replaces the RUN strings into Run which is good, but it replaces also RUNMODAL into RunMODAL and it does not take into account my second condition. Is there any way to specify that only exact matches should be taken into account or at least for each replace I'd specify the number of characters to be taken into consideration when replacing a particular string?

$AllFiles = Get-ChildItem $FilePath

foreach ($file in $AllFiles) {
    (Get-Content $file.PSPath) | ForEach {
        $_ -creplace 'RUN', 'Run' `
           -creplace 'RUNMODAL', 'RunModal'
    } | Set-Content  $file.PSPath
}

Edit:

Maybe a better example would be:

FIELD → field
NEWFIELD → NewField

Even if I switch these to I would either get NEWfield or Newfield and I need NewField.

Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-10 20:33:04Z

1

Use word boundaries (\b) in your search strings to ensure that you're replacing only complete words. And you don't need a nested loop. The replacement operators can be used directly on lists.

Get-ChildItem $FilePath | ForEach-Object {
    (Get-Content $_.FullName) -creplace '\bRUN\b', 'Run' `
            -creplace '\bRUNMODAL\b', 'RunModal' `
            -creplace '\bFIELD\b', 'NewField' |
        Set-Content  $_.FullName
}

answered Oct 10, 2018 at 20:33

Ansgar Wiechers

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Nas · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-10 20:16:44Z

0

$AllFiles = Get-ChildItem $FilePath

(Get-Content $file.PSPath) |
ForEach {
       $_ -creplace 'RUNMODAL', 'RunModal' `
          -creplace 'RUN', 'Run'
} | Set-Content  $file.PSPath

answered Oct 10, 2018 at 20:16

Nas

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1 Comment

MatDDev Over a year ago

Unfortunately it is not that simple. In this case it'd work, but I have around 30 conditions to be met and I need this script to be working not like that, but it'd need to replace only exact words. I've got also examples like FIELD > field and NEWFIELD > NewField and in this case it won't work because it either replaces it to Newfield or it leaves it as NEWfield because the script is case-sensitive.

MatDDev · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-10 20:37:24Z

0

I did find also another solution which is:

foreach ($file in $AllFiles) 
{
    (Get-Content $file.PSPath) | ForEach-Object {
        $line = $_

        $lookupTable.GetEnumerator() | ForEach-Object {
            if ($line -like $_.Key)
            {
                $line = $line -replace $_.Key, $_.Value
            }
        }
       $line
    } | Set-Content $file.PSPath
}

I will try yours as well. Thanks!

answered Oct 10, 2018 at 20:37

MatDDev

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2 Comments

Ansgar Wiechers Over a year ago

Getting your search and replace strings from a hashtable doesn't help with replacing entire words only. Also, there is no effective difference between a condition $line -like $_.Key and $line -eq $_.Key unless $_.Key contains wildcard characters, which would make it unsuitable as a search string for a regular expression replacement.

MatDDev Over a year ago

Yeap, after few tests I also found this not to be the best solution. Anyway I've used the version with \bXXXz\b and it works almost perfect.

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