Chapter 22. Find and Replace
Youâve probably encountered find-and-replace tools in word processing programs and even some graphics software. As its name implies, the command finds a piece of text (webmaster, for example) and replaces it with another piece of text (webmistress). Like Microsoft Word, Dreamweaver can search and replace text in the body of your web pages. But it also offers variations on this feature that enhance your ability to work within the tag-based world of HTML.
Whatâs more, Dreamweaver lets you find and replace text on every page of your site simultaneously, not just the current, open document. In addition, you can remove every appearance of a particular HTML tag, or search and replace text that matches very specific criteria. For example, you can find every instance of the word âAardvarkâ that appears within a paragraph styled with the class name animal. These advanced find-and-replace maneuvers are some of the most powerfulâand under-appreciatedâtools in Dreamweaver. If you learn how to use them, you can make changes to your pages in a fraction of the time it would take using other methods.
Tip
You can use Find and Replace feature to search an entire siteâs worth of files. This is powerful, but it can also be slow, especially if some folders hold files you donât want to searchâold archives, for example. You can use Dreamweaverâs cloaking feature to hide files from find-and-replace operations. See Cloaking Files for details.
Find and Replace ...
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