Find and Replace

To perform find a replace within a file, choose Edit ⟩ Find ⟩ Find... (command F), or Edit ⟩ Find ⟩ Use Selection For Find (command E) to immediately search the file for the text you currently have selected.

The find bar will open at the top of the window. Use the arrows to move between results, or Edit ⟩ Find ⟩ Find Next (command G) and Edit ⟩ Find ⟩ Find Previous (shift command G). If you enter replacement text and click the Replace button the instance that is currently selected in the editor will be replaced.

You can enable case sensitive searches or regular expressions by clicking the button.

Regular expressions

Regular expressions in the Espresso find bar use syntax coloring to make it easy to ensure you do not accidentally use a special character without realizing it, and any capture groups you use will be available in the replacements field as $0, $1, etc.

If you are new to regular expressions, you might find regular-expressions.info a useful introduction and reference.

Espresso uses the syntax from the Oniguruma regular expression library, which offers all the standard features you would expect (capture groups, character classes, escape characters, etc.). For those familiar with other regular expression flavors, the main difference is that you must use the m flag to disable "dot matches newlines" instead of the s flag that is more common for other languages (for instance: (?-m) prepended to the beginning of your expression will make sure that the . character does not match newlines).