(2)
Your rating: Now say why...
Find & Replace It! is a high-end solution to find files and execute search-and-replace operations across directories. It allows performing very complex batch replacements inside text files of any size. It supports regular expression syntax and dozens of encodings. It has scripting capabilities which allow transforming on the fly the replacement text for every found string. It even handles batch processing of the encoding of files, as well as of types of end-of-lines.
Here are five key points of Find & Replace It! that make the difference with its competitors:
Here are five key points of Find & Replace It! that make the difference with its competitors:
- Handles
What's New
Version 2.0.5:
Application:
- Fix two possible divide by zero exceptions when searching/replacing expression in an empty string.
- Ready for Mac App Store distribution (again).
- Update the Qt libraries from 4.7.4 to 4.8.1: important speed improvement of GUI on Mac OS X, new version of Webkit for HTML preview, fix compatibility issue regarding Mac App Store requirements.
- Update ICU library to 4.8.1.1 on all platforms
- Add support for Ubuntu 12.04 which is the new reference platform for Linux distributions.
- Miscellaneous enhancements and updates.
Version 2.0.5:
Application:
- Fix two possible divide by zero exceptions when searching/replacing expression in an empty string.
- Ready for Mac App Store distribution (again).
- Update the Qt libraries from 4.7.4 to 4.8.1: important speed improvement of GUI on Mac OS X, new version of Webkit for HTML preview, fix compatibility issue regarding Mac App Store more...
Requirements
Intel, Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later
Intel, Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later
Find & Replace It! User Discussion (Write a Review)
Overall:
(6)
(6)
| Downloads:8,747 |
| Version Downloads:124 |
| Type:Development : Editors |
| License:Shareware |
| Date:14 May 2012 |
| Platform:Intel |
| Price: $14.99 |
Overall (Version 2.x):   |
| Features: |
| Ease of Use: |
| Value: |
| Stability: |
-
-
-
Find & Replace It! is a high-end solution to find files and execute search-and-replace operations across directories. It allows performing very complex batch replacements inside text files of any size. It supports regular expression syntax and dozens of encodings. It has scripting capabilities which allow transforming on the fly the replacement text for every found string. It even handles batch processing of the encoding of files, as well as of types of end-of-lines.
Here are five key points of Find & Replace It! that make the difference with its competitors:
Here are five key points of Find & Replace It! that make the difference with its competitors:
- Handles more than 50 different kinds of text encodings. If your are stucked with some UTF-8 encoding, some Chinese contents or any others non ASCII encodings, Find & Replace It! is the solution for you. It also handles the different kinds of end-of-line.
- Handles huge files. If you want to process any kind of dump files containing tons of text, like a log of 10 GB, Find & Replace It! will do it for you.
- Provides a regular expression editor. This editor offers tools to easily build regular expressions even if you are a newby.
- Provides a find & replace preview. The preview window gives you an immediate feed-back that makes easy to check the impact of your replacement within any file without modifying its content. This is especially usefull whenever you are searching for a complex expression and you don't want to replace it blindly in many files.
- Makes it possible to dynamically adjust the replacement text. It provides three ways of dynamically adjust the replacement text according to the text found. For instance, it is possible to reuse a fragment of the found expression into the replacement text, do arithmetic operations on found text, insert the path or filename of replaced files, apply conditional operations on the replacement string (JavaScript interface), manipulate dates, etc.
Copyright © 2012 MacUpdate LLC
- -
+104
Sgginc reviewed on 14 Feb 2012
When you update none of your settings (windows open and placement) including the registration are remembered.
Registration is convoluted: Copying and pasting are not implemented. Drag and drop does not work.
The program is not intuitive enough to easily recreate the working environment I prefer.
The file selection window is not very long, like about 2-3 files are shown at one time. Scrolling in it is problamatic.
Of the hundreds of programs I have none of them trash the preferences every time there is an update.
The developer has a way to copy the old Pref file, but why is this needed?
Come on and fix it!!!
Thanks ... Ken
+104
The activation only requires that you click one button to get back your previous key, type your login, and then press Activate. We agree that's a bit cumbersome for a $15 shareware... For the next minor or major version we'll consider adopting a mechanism for automatically activate the product if it has already be done in the past with a another version of the product.
The activation dialog supports drag&drop and copy&paste for entering your activation key.
-27
Although I'm not completely happy with Renamer, it's a helluva lot simpler and does most of what I need for simple batch renaming.
+1
+46
On the same MacBook recently upgraded to Lion I opened up Find and Replace It and it told me a new version is available online. I download that, install and open. It has forgotten my product activation information. This is an excruciating combination of username and password (which have to be registered online). An activation key and a "valid through" field (I have no idea what that means). After a few attempts I managed to find all the correct info and submit only to be greeted by:
"Unable to activate your copy of Find & Replace It!: This activation key has already been activated with another hardware identification or a different version of the product. If you have just upgraded to a new version, you might need to pay an upgrade to get a new key. If your hardware or software configuration has changed, we kindly request you to contact our support at support@dprog.ch to get a free update of your activation key."
Now it could be that it's not recognising that I'm now on Lion or it could be that this version was not a free upgrade. Either way I'm now left frustrated that I have to go through all this just to use a $30 find and replace app!
I should also mention that in previous attempts at using it I've always found the interface to be so unintuitive that I just gave up and used other means. I was hoping a new version may have improved. Despite the above issue and because I've not actually had the chance to use the application I've decided not to rate the application as that wouldn't be fair to the developer.
We'd like to avoid confusion for readers that might be using Mac OS X Lion. Hence here are some comments related to your post.
As mentionned at many places on our website, the upgrade to version 2.0 is a paid upgrade. The "trouble" you have for activating the version 2.0 has nothing to do with the fact you migrate to Lion. You simply need a new activation key for the release 2.0. If you don't want to pay for an upgrade you can download a 1.4 version and install it. The activation key you bought for the 1.x versions is still valid, no matter you tried the version 2.0.
One note about the "valid through" field for activation key. This is the expiry date of your license if you get a temporary license (e.g. the one you get for the 30-day free trial). See our online manual for more details: http://www.dprog.ch/home/products/find_and_replace_it/documentation/user_manual/#title-full-version
We're sorry you didn't like the UI which is somehow complex. We try to make it as flexible as possible with the default of being more complex than the one of some competitors. However a little reading of the user guide should put the user on the right track to exploit the power of that flexibility. Anyway we cannot deny that using Find & Replace It! requires a small learning curve. We think that's the price to pay for having a solution that does more than blindly replace one string by another in a given folder...
+46
You say "mentionned at many places on our website", however, perhaps it should be made clearer on the route I was sent through, which is from the upgrade notice when starting up the application to a download page on your website. The Omni Group are a good example of this: Their software will warn you if an upgrade is free or not on the application's upgrade notification.
I do agree with the hint in your comment suggesting that I probably did not pay enough attention to your website, nor did I spend enough time with your user manual. As I said before, that is really why I've not rated, nor am I judging this app on its find and replace functionality. There are plenty of positive reviews on that here and I've clearly not had much chance to work with them.
My main point is this: In comparison to others, your software makes it more difficult than seems necessary to register and update and that doesn't make your software a better experience than others.
p.s. In case readers are wondering. I did email Dprog directly (subject: "Problem activating Find and Replace It! 2.0") but have not yet had a reply (not that I'm suggesting they intentionally failed to reply, emails do get lost etc).
+46
+2
+104
Sgginc reviewed on 07 Mar 2011
Allows you to use part (or all) of the replacement text in the replacement text.
Handles almost any text encoding.
Extremely responsive developer answers questions very quickly.
Requires a learning curve but is well worth it.
Highly recommended!!!
+104
Should be:
Allows you to use part (or all) of the search text in the replacement text.
-18
MacBunny reviewed on 07 Mar 2011
+2
For sure if three crashes happen while doing almost nothing, this is just unacceptable. Nevertheless, thinking that native Mac applications are exempt of any bug is a myth. Otherwise, why would Apple's developpers providing users with regular bug fixes? This is not only related to developper's skills, it's a fact in software development. I've been working on Mac OS X for a few years now and therefore experienced a few problems like yours (pretty rare to be honnest) .
You're right on that point, using crossplatform development tools doesn't allow us to achieve a seamless integration with all the platform-specific tricks, even if Qt is doing a great job. Further, the usage of crossplatform tools can also lead to unexpected bugs and even crashes in some rare circumstances (here is an example we recently faced: http://bugreports.qt.nokia.com/browse/QTBUG-6843). But, these drawbacks are the price to pay for providing users with a unique, consistent tool over many platforms.
We are working hard to support several version of several kinds of operating systems, but nobody is perfect and problems arise. Hence, developping good softwares without the user's feedbacks is not possible. That's why we ask you for your feedback on the circumstances where these crashes occur, even though your experience was disapointing.
+2
+13
Smilingbird reviewed on 15 Oct 2010
It's a cross-platform non-native program, and, as such, works pretty badly on the Mac. E.g., doesn't work with Breeze, nor with Typinator.
I've been searching for more than a year now for a good text search & replace app for the Mac -- something like Regexxer on Linux ( http://regexxer.sourceforge.net/ ) -- well, I'm still searching...
+2
I followed the link you mentionned and guess what? The only developper for this project claims on his blog that he has a strong antipathy towards Qt. Qt is just the GUI framework used in Find & Replace It!. Is that chance?
Morevover, at our support service, we didn't hear about the crash that you mention here. We would be more than happy to get your collaboration on this. You'll find all the information you need to report this problem on this page : http://www.dprog.ch/home/products/findreplaceit/documentation/user_manual/#title-what-to-do-in-case-of-problems. Thanks for your help.
+1
+13
Are you kidding me?! I AM a Mac user -- I've used Regexxer when I was a Linux user (for some years). I switched to the Mac on June/July 2009. Do you need my passport to prove to you I am not Regexxer's author?!
> at our support service, we didn't hear about the crash that you mention here
Not 1 crash -- 3 crashes. And you "didn't hear" from me because they were so ridiculous that I didn't even bother...
I wasn't doing anything special when every one of the crashes happened. For example, one of them happened when switching to another app -- yes, Find & Replace It! crashed at that time!
These crashes shouldn't have happened in the first place. -- And my guess is, they *wouldn't* have happened if Find & Replace It! was a native Mac app.
In my experience, a good Mac app pretty much never crashes. I have over 100 native Mac apps installed -- of these, only ONE of them crashed once... AND never again.
Crash on me 3 times in different occasions on FIRST use -- You go straight to the Trash. That's it. Done, Finito, Fin, The End.
-- Why am I even going to bother contacting your "customer service"? Those crashes, to me, were unacceptable -- proof enough of your *lack of skill* as a Mac developer. End of story.
+3
+3
Dyan_ch reviewed on 07 Oct 2010
Even tho I'm using it mostly to find/replace in files, i'm often using it to check my regular expressions...
Finally the encoding handling is the best I've seen so far...
Definitely worth the 15 bucks!
+2
+2
The regexp editor is also very nice for a newby like me.
I must say that it is very very useful. Thanks a lot for this nice piece of software.
+43
Spike-James rated on 14 May 2012