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Search Documents Using Results Lists

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Using the Find and Replace dialog box, you can search and replace text in all files in a project or solution or in a file system folder, even when they are not open in SQL Server Management Studio. Matches from searches that were performed with the Find and Replace dialog box appear in the Find Results 1 and Find Results 2 windows, which allows you to view the exact text from the line containing the match.

To search in multiple files

  1. On the Edit menu, point to Find and Replace, and then click Find in Files.

  2. In the Find what text box, enter the text to search for.

  3. In the Look in list, click All Open Documents, Current Project, Entire Solution, or type a directory path.

  4. In the File types list, select one of the listed sets of file extensions or enter the extensions for the types of files to be searched, separated by semicolons. Use *.* to search all files in the directory listed in the Look in drop-down list.

  5. Select from the remaining search options to improve the accuracy of the search.

  6. Click Find to begin the search.

The matches for the search appear in the Find Results 1 window by default. You can browse the search matches by double-clicking each entry in the Find Results 1 window. To view the search results in a new window, select Display in Find 2.

To replace across multiple files or folders

  1. On the Edit menu, point to Find and Replace, and then click Replace in Files.

  2. In the Find what text box, enter the text to search for.

  3. In the Replace with box, enter the text to replace the search text.

  4. In the Look in list, click All Open Documents, Current Project, Entire Solution, or type a directory path.

  5. Click Replace to replace the current search match with the text in the Replace with box. You can skip a single match by clicking Find Next or skip an entire file clicking Skip File.

    - or -

    Choose Replace all to replace all search matches with the text in the Replace with box. Select Keep modified files open after Replace All if you want to undo some of the replacements at another time.

    Note

    Replace all replaces all search matches, including those in files you have skipped with Skip File or Find Next. You can only use Undo for replacements made in files that remain open after the replacement operation.

Replacement information appears in the Find Results 1 window by default. You can browse replacements by double-clicking each entry in the Find Results 1 window.

See Also

Search and Replace
Search Documents Interactively
Search Text with Wildcards
Search Text with Regular Expressions