To use X-Replace to search for files:

1. Right-click a file or folder, or the window background, and choose Extended Search & Replace from the ShellToys XP menu. (You can also start X-Replace from its shortcut on the Start menu.)

2. If you started X-Replace from the ShellToys menu, the current folder will automatically be set as X-ReplaceÆs search folder and its path will appear in the Search in this folder field. You can choose a different folder to search by clicking the Browse button beside this field, or picking one of the last 20 folders searched from the drop-down list.

3. In the Find field, type or paste the text that X-Replace should search for, if you want the contents of files to be scanned.

4. If the Case sensitive box is checked, X-Replace will search for files containing text that matches the case of your Find text.

5. If the Use wildcards box is checked, any * or ? symbols in the Find field will be interpreted as wildcards.

6. Check the Include subfolders box if X-Replace should look for matching files in subfolders of the selected folder.

7. By default, X-Replace will search all plain-text files in the selected folder. To limit the search to particular files, check the box labelled Find files matching this mask and type a file mask in the field beside it. For instance, type *der* to ignore any file whose name does not contain the letters æderÆ, or *.txt to search in text files only. (You can use this option to find files whose names contain particular text without necessarily entering anything in the 'Find' field.) More information about file masks.

8. Click the Find Files button to start the search. Any files found that match your search criteria will be shown in the list below, together with the number of instances of the 'Find' text each contains. You can stop the search at any point by clicking the Stop button or pressing the Esc key.

After performing a search for files containing particular text, following the steps above, you may want to replace instances of the 'Find' text in some or all of the files with different text. To replace text in files, follow these steps. (You can set up the Replace options before searching if you prefer.)

1. In the Replace with field, type or paste the text with which all occurrences of the 'Find' text should be replaced. X-Replace will make replacements using this text exactly as you type it, taking note of case, carriage returns and tabs. The contents of the Replace field can be left blank if you want to simply delete any instances of the 'Find' text that are found.

2. Check the Make backups box if X-Replace should first make a backup of any file it changes. Backups keep the original filename and add the extension .bak (so MyFile.txt would become MyFile.txt.bak) and are placed in the same folder as the original file.

3. Remove the checkmark beside any listed file that should not be altered.

4. Click the Replace Text button. X-Replace will replace all instances of the 'Find' text in the checked files with the 'Replace' text.

You can drag files from the list into an open application to view or edit them. You can also drag them to the desktop or a folder window: as in Windows, if you use the right mouse-button to drag files you'll be given a choice of moving, copying or creating shortcuts to the dropped files.