A simple utility to quickly replace text in one or more files.
npm install replace-in-file
A simple utility to quickly replace text in one or more files or globs. Works synchronously or asynchronously with either promises or callbacks. Make a single replacement or multiple replacements at once.
fromtoshell
Using npm
npm i replace-in-fileUsing yarn
yarn add replace-in-file
`$3
js
import {replaceInFile} from 'replace-in-file'const options = {
files: 'path/to/file',
from: /foo/g,
to: 'bar',
}
try {
const results = await replaceInFile(options)
console.log('Replacement results:', results)
}
catch (error) {
console.error('Error occurred:', error)
}
`$3
js
import {replaceInFileSync} from 'replace-in-file'const options = {
files: 'path/to/file',
from: /foo/g,
to: 'bar',
}
try {
const results = replaceInFileSync(options)
console.log('Replacement results:', results)
}
catch (error) {
console.error('Error occurred:', error)
}
`$3
The return value of the library is an array of replacement results against each file that was processed. This includes files in which no replacements were made.
Each result contains the following values:
-
: The path to the file that was processed
- hasChanged: Flag to indicate if the file was changed or not`js
const results = replaceInFileSync({
files: 'path/to/files/*.html',
from: /foo/g,
to: 'bar',
})console.log(results)
// [
// {
// file: 'path/to/files/file1.html',
// hasChanged: true,
// },
// {
// file: 'path/to/files/file2.html',
// hasChanged: true,
// },
// {
// file: 'path/to/files/file3.html',
// hasChanged: false,
// },
// ]
`To get an array of changed files, simply map the results as follows:
js
const changedFiles = results
.filter(result => result.hasChanged)
.map(result => result.file)
`$3
By setting the configuration flag to true, the number of matches and replacements per file will be counted and present in the results array.-
numMatches: Indicates the number of times a match was found in the file
- numReplacements: Indicates the number of times a replacement was made in the fileNote that the number of matches can be higher than the number of replacements if a match and replacement are the same string.
`js
const results = replaceInFileSync({
files: 'path/to/files/*.html',
from: /foo/g,
to: 'bar',
countMatches: true,
})console.log(results)
// [
// {
// file: 'path/to/files/file1.html',
// hasChanged: true,
// numMatches: 3,
// numReplacements: 3,
// },
// {
// file: 'path/to/files/file2.html',
// hasChanged: true,
// numMatches: 1,
// numReplacements: 1,
// },
// {
// file: 'path/to/files/file3.html',
// hasChanged: false,
// numMatches: 0,
// numReplacements: 0,
// },
// ]
`Advanced usage
$3
js
const options = {
files: 'path/to/file',
}
`$3
js
const options = {
files: [
'path/to/file',
'path/to/other/file',
'path/to/files/*.html',
'another/*/.path',
],
}
`$3
js
const options = {
from: 'foo',
to: 'bar',
}
`$3
Please note that the value specified in the parameter is passed straight to the native String replace method. As such, if you pass a string as the from parameter, it will _only replace the first occurrence_.To replace multiple occurrences at once, you must use a regular expression for the
from parameter with the global flag enabled, e.g. /foo/g.`js
const options = {
from: /foo/g,
to: 'bar',
}
`$3
These will be replaced sequentially.
js
const options = {
from: [/foo/g, /baz/g],
to: 'bar',
}
`$3
These will be replaced sequentially.
js
const options = {
from: [/foo/g, /baz/g],
to: ['bar', 'bax'],
}
`$3
There is no direct API in this package to make multiple replacements on different files with different options. However, you can easily accomplish this in your scripts as follows:
js
const replacements = [
{
files: 'path/to/file1',
from: /foo/g,
to: 'bar',
},
{
files: 'path/to/file2',
from: /bar/g,
to: 'foo',
}
]await Promise.all(
replacements.map(options => replaceInFile(options))
)
`$3
Use the RegExp constructor to create any regular expression.
js
const str = 'foo'
const regex = new RegExp('^' + str + 'bar', 'i')
const options = {
from: regex,
to: 'bar',
}
`$3
You can also specify a callback that returns a string or a regular expression. The callback receives the name of the file in which the replacement is being performed, thereby allowing the user to tailor the search string. The following example uses a callback to produce a search string dependent on the filename:js
const options = {
files: 'path/to/file',
from: (file) => new RegExp(file, 'g'),
to: 'bar',
}
`$3
As the parameter is passed to the native String replace method, you can also specify a callback. The following example uses a callback to convert matching strings to lowercase:`js
const options = {
files: 'path/to/file',
from: /SomePattern[A-Za-z-]+/g,
to: (match) => match.toLowerCase(),
}
`This callback provides for an extra argument above the String replace method, which is the name of the file in which the replacement is being performed. The following example replaces the matched string with the filename:
js
const options = {
files: 'path/to/file',
from: /SomePattern[A-Za-z-]+/g,
to: (...args) => args.pop(),
}
`$3
You can specify a config param to modify the target file for saving the new file contents to. For example:`js
const options = {
files: 'path/to/files/*.html',
getTargetFile: source => new/path/${source},
from: 'foo',
to: 'bar',
}
`$3
js
const options = {
ignore: 'path/to/ignored/file',
}
`$3
js
const options = {
ignore: [
'path/to/ignored/file',
'path/to/other/ignored_file',
'path/to/ignored_files/*.html',
'another/*/.ignore',
],
}
`Please note that there is an open issue with Glob that causes ignored patterns to be ignored when using a
prefix in your files glob. To work around this, simply remove the prefix, e.g. use / instead of .//.$3
If set to true, empty or invalid paths will fail silently and no error will be thrown. For asynchronous replacement only. Defaults to false.`js
const options = {
allowEmptyPaths: true,
}
`$3
You can disable globs if needed using this flag. Use this when you run into issues with file paths like files like . Defaults to false.`js
const options = {
disableGlobs: true,
}
`$3
Specify configuration passed to the glob call:js
const options = { //Glob settings here (examples given below)
glob: {
//To include hidden files (starting with a dot)
dot: true,
//To fix paths on Windows OS when path.join() is used to create paths
windowsPathsNoEscape: true,
},
}
`Please note that the setting
will always be passed as false.$3
To make replacements in files on network drives, you may need to specify the UNC path as the cwd config option. This will then be passed to glob and prefixed to your paths accordingly. See #56 for more details.$3
Use a different character encoding for reading/writing files. Defaults to utf-8.`js
const options = {
encoding: 'utf8',
}
`$3
To do a dry run without actually making replacements, for testing purposes. Defaults to .`js
const options = {
dry: true,
}
`$3
For advanced usage where complex processing is needed it's possible to use a callback that will receive content as an argument and should return it processed.
js
const results = await replaceInFile({
files: 'path/to/files/*.html',
processor: (input) => input.replace(/foo/g, 'bar'),
})
`
The custom processor will receive the path of the file being processed as a second parameter:js
const results = await replaceInFile({
files: 'path/to/files/*.html',
processor: (input, file) => input.replace(/foo/g, file),
})
`This also supports passing an array of functions that will be executed sequentially
js
function someProcessingA(input) {
const chapters = input.split('###')
chapters[1] = chapters[1].replace(/foo/g, 'bar')
return chapters.join('###')
}function someProcessingB(input) {
return input.replace(/foo/g, 'bar')
}
const results = replaceInFileSync({
files: 'path/to/files/*.html',
processor: [someProcessingA, someProcessingB],
})
`Alongside the
, there is also processorAsync which is the equivalent for asynchronous processing. It should return a promise that resolves with the processed content:`js
const results = await replaceInFile({
files: 'path/to/files/*.html',
processorAsync: async (input, file) => {
const asyncResult = await doAsyncOperation(input, file);
return input.replace(/foo/g, asyncResult)
},
})
`$3
defaults to using 'node:fs/promises' and 'node:fs' to provide file reading and write APIs.
You can provide an fs or fsSync object of your own to switch to a different file system, such as a mock file system for unit tests.* For the asynchronous APIs, the provided
fs must provide the readFile and writeFile methods.
* For the synchronous APIs, the provided fsSync must provide the readFileSync and writeFileSync methods.Custom
fs and fsSync implementations should have the same parameters and returned values as their built-in Node fs equivalents.`js
replaceInFile({
from: 'a',
fs: {
readFile: async (file, encoding) => {
console.log(Reading ${file} with encoding ${encoding}...)
return 'fake file contents'
},
writeFile: async (file, newContents, encoding) => {
console.log(Writing ${file} with encoding ${encoding}: ${newContents})
},
},
to: 'b',
})
`Or for the sync API:
js
replaceInFileSync({
from: 'a',
fsSync: {
readFileSync: (file, encoding) => {
console.log(Reading ${file} with encoding ${encoding}...)
return 'fake file contents'
},
writeFileSync: (file, newContents, encoding) => {
console.log(Writing ${file} with encoding ${encoding}: ${newContents})
},
},
to: 'b',
})
`CLI usage
sh
replace-in-file from to some/file.js,some/**/glob.js
[--configFile=config.json]
[--ignore=ignore/files.js,ignore/**/glob.js]
[--encoding=utf-8]
[--disableGlobs]
[--verbose]
[--quiet]
[--dry]
`Multiple files or globs can be replaced by providing a comma separated list.
The flags
, --ignore and --encoding are supported in the CLI.The setting
allowEmptyPaths is not supported in the CLI as the replacement is
synchronous, and this setting is only relevant for asynchronous replacement.To list the changed files, use the
--verbose flag. Success output can be suppressed by using the --quiet flag.To do a dry run without making any actual changes, use
--dry.A regular expression may be used for the
from parameter by passing in a string correctly formatted as a regular expression. The library will automatically detect that it is a regular expression.The
from and to parameters, as well as the files list, can be omitted if you provide this
information in a configuration file.You can provide a path to a configuration file
(JSON) with the
--configFile flag. This path will be resolved using
Node’s built in path.resolve(), so you can pass in an absolute or relative path.If you are using a configuration file, and you want to use a regular expression for the
from value, ensure that it starts with a /, for example:`json
{
"from": "/cat/g",
"to": "dog",
}
`A note on using globs with the CLI
When using the CLI, the glob pattern is handled by the operating system. But if you specify the glob pattern in the configuration file, the package will use the glob module from the Node modules, and this can lead to different behaviour despite using the same pattern.For example, the following will only look at top level files:
json
{
"from": "cat",
"to": "dog",
}
`sh
replace-in-file ** --configFile=config.json
`However, this example is recursive:
json
{
"files": "**",
"from": "cat",
"to": "dog",
}
`sh
replace-in-file --configFile=config.json
`If you want to do a recursive file search as an argument you must use:
sh
replace-in-file $(ls l {,*/}) --configFile=config.json
``As 8.0.0 was a significant rewrite, please open an issue if you run into any problems or unexpected behaviour.
See the Changelog for more information.
Copyright 2015-2024, Adam Reis