
Find Replace Tool
Version:
2023.1
Last modified: May 17, 2023
One Tool Example
Find Replace has a One Tool Example. Visit Sample Workflows to learn how to access this and many other examples directly in Alteryx Designer.
Use Find Replace to find a string in one column of a dataset and look up and replace it with the specified value from another dataset. You can also use Find Replace to append columns to a row.
Tool Components
The Find Replace tool has 3 anchors:
- Input anchors:
- F input anchor: This input is the initial input table ("F" for "Find"). This is the table that is updated in the tool's results.
- R input anchor: This input is the lookup table ("R" for "Replace"). This is the table that contains data used to replace data in (or append data to) the initial input.
- Output anchor: The output anchor displays the results of the Find Replace tool.
Configure the Tool
The Find Replace tool configuration is comprised of 2 sections: Find and Replace.
Find Section
- Choose the radio button that best describes the part of the field that contains the value to find:
- Beginning of Field: Searches for the instance of the field value at the beginning of the field. The entire field does not have to only contain what is being searched for.
- Any Part of Field: Searches for the instance of the field value in any part of the field. The entire field does not have to only contain what is being searched for.
- Entire Field: Searches for the instance of the field value contained within the entire field. The instance MUST be there in its entirety to be replaced with the new value.
- Find Within Field: Select the field in the table with data to be replaced (F input anchor) by data in the reference table (R input anchor).
- Find Value: Select the field from the reference table (R input anchor) that contains the same values as the Find within Field field in the original table (F input anchor).
- Select optional search conditions:
- Case Insensitive Find: This option will ignore the case in the search.
- Match Whole Word Only: Strings are only matched if there are leading and trailing spaces. For strings at the beginning or end of a cell, there must be a space at the other end.
Replace Section
You can choose to replace or append data in the table using these radio buttons:
- Replace Found Text With Value:
- Choose the field from the reference table (R input anchor) to use to update the original table (F input anchor) Find Within Field.
- Optionally select Replace Multiple Found Items (Find Any Part of Field only). This should only be used if you selected Any Part of Field from the first radio button.
- Append Field(s) to Record:
- Choose this option to append a column populated with the reference table (R input anchor) data whenever the selected Find Value field data is found within the selected Find Within Field.
- Select the fields to append.