Multiline Find & Replace in Visual Studio

Question

Can it be done? We're using VS2005 and VS2008 and VS2010.

I don't mean regular expressions - which have their place - but plain old text find & replace. I know we can do it (at a pinch) with regular expressions using the \n tag but prefer not to get tangled up in regex escape characters, plus there's a readability issue.

If it can't be done what plain and simple (free) alternative are people using? That doesn't involve knocking up our own macro.

Answer 1

Regarding the comment of Andrew Corkery Aug 19 '11 at 9:52 above:

If you like to specify a multi-line replacement string as well, edit the macro code and set the replacement text as shown below. This will allow you to "fine-tune" your replacement with just the small modifications needed.

 Sub FindLine()
    Dim textSelection As TextSelection

    textSelection = DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection
    textSelection.CharLeft(True)
    DTE.ExecuteCommand("Edit.Find")
    DTE.Find.FindWhat = textSelection.Text

    'also preset replacement text with current selection
    DTE.Find.ReplaceWith = textSelection.Text
End Sub

Answer 2

Its provided by microsoft only. Please check https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/699CE302-B0D4-4083-BE0E-1682E873CEBF.

It uses regular expression only. But for those who don't know regex better to use it.

Answer 3

You might want to take a look at this blog entry:

Multiline Search and Replace in Visual Studio

Provides macro code to escape your search and show the VS find and replace dialog.

Answer 4

I use this: Visual Studio Gallery Multiline Search and Replace

Answer 5

I finally found it..

No need to download and load any external macro.

Its working in Visual Studio 2008 with in-built macro at least. :)

Steps :
1) Select text you want to find.
2) Press "Alt+F8" or open "Tools -> Macros -> Macro Explorer"
3) Double click "Sample -> Utilities -> FindLine". (It will open Find box with your selection loaded in "Find" field. Don't worry about truncated text shown in "Find" field. Trust me, field has it all..MS way of showing it may be... :) )
4) Click on "Quick Replace" button on "Find And Replace" dialog box. Enter your replace with text.
5) And Click any of 3 buttons as per your requirement...and its done. :)

Hurray.. its working.. May not be a straight forward way to do it but you know with MS.. nothing is straightforward and easy.. :)

Answer 6

The latest version (as of this posting) of Notepad++ does multi-line find/replace. I don't know if this was true back when this was asked. But with no macro support in Visual Studio anymore, this is relevant now.