How to: Search and Replace Text in a Document Part

Applies to: Excel 2010 | Office 2010 | PowerPoint 2010 | Word 2010

In this article
Packages and Document Parts
Getting a WordprocessingDocument Object
How the Sample Code Works
Sample Code

This topic shows how to use the classes in the Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office to programmatically search and replace a text value in a word processing document.

The following assembly directives are required to compile the code in this topic.

using System.IO;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Imports DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging

Packages and Document Parts

An Open XML document is stored as a package, whose format is defined by ISO/IEC 29500-2. The package can have multiple parts with relationships between them. The relationship between parts controls the category of the document. A document can be defined as a word-processing document if its package-relationship item contains a relationship to a main document part. If its package-relationship item contains a relationship to a presentation part it can be defined as a presentation document. If its package-relationship item contains a relationship to a workbook part, it is defined as a spreadsheet document. In this how-to topic, you will use a word-processing document package.

Getting a WordprocessingDocument Object

In the sample code, you start by opening the word processing file by instantiating the WordprocessingDocument class as shown in the following using statement. In the same statement, you open the word processing file document by using the Open method, with the Boolean parameter set to true to enable editing the document.

using (WordprocessingDocument wordDoc = 
        WordprocessingDocument.Open(document, true))
{
    // Insert other code here.
}

Using wordDoc As WordprocessingDocument = WordprocessingDocument.Open(document, True)
    ' Insert other code here.
End Using

The using statement provides a recommended alternative to the typical .Open, .Save, .Close sequence. It ensures that the Dispose method (internal method used by the Open XML SDK to clean up resources) is automatically called when the closing brace is reached. The block that follows the using statement establishes a scope for the object that is created or named in the using statement, in this case wordDoc. Because the WordprocessingDocument class in the Open XML SDK automatically saves and closes the object as part of its System.IDisposable implementation, and because Dispose is automatically called when you exit the block, you do not have to explicitly call Save and Close─as long as you use using.

How the Sample Code Works

After you have opened the file for editing, you read it by using a StreamReader object.

using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(wordDoc.MainDocumentPart.GetStream()))
{
    docText = sr.ReadToEnd();
}

Dim sr As StreamReader = New StreamReader(wordDoc.MainDocumentPart.GetStream)

    using (sr)
        docText = sr.ReadToEnd
    End using

The code then creates a regular expression object that contains the string "Hello world!" It then replaces the text value with the text "Hi Everyone!." For more information about regular expressions, see Regular Expressions

Regex regexText = new Regex("Hello world!");
docText = regexText.Replace(docText, "Hi Everyone!");

Dim regexText As Regex = New Regex("Hello world!")
docText = regexText.Replace(docText, "Hi Everyone!")

Sample Code

The following code example shows how to use a regular expression to search and replace the text value, "Hello world!" stored in a word processing file named "MyPkg8.docx," with the value "Hi Everyone!". To call the method SearchAndReplace, you can use the following example.

SearchAndReplace(@"C:\Users\Public\Documents\MyPkg8.docx");

SearchAndReplace("C:\Users\Public\Documents\MyPkg8.docx")

After running the program, you can inspect the file to see the change in the text, "Hello world!"

The following is the complete sample code in both C# and Visual Basic.

// To search and replace content in a document part.
public static void SearchAndReplace(string document)
{
    using (WordprocessingDocument wordDoc = WordprocessingDocument.Open(document, true))
    {
        string docText = null;
        using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(wordDoc.MainDocumentPart.GetStream()))
        {
            docText = sr.ReadToEnd();
        }

        Regex regexText = new Regex("Hello world!");
        docText = regexText.Replace(docText, "Hi Everyone!");

        using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(wordDoc.MainDocumentPart.GetStream(FileMode.Create)))
        {
            sw.Write(docText);
        }
    }
}

' To search and replace content in a document part. 
Public Sub SearchAndReplace(ByVal document As String)
    Dim wordDoc As WordprocessingDocument = WordprocessingDocument.Open(document, True)
    using (wordDoc)
        Dim docText As String = Nothing
        Dim sr As StreamReader = New StreamReader(wordDoc.MainDocumentPart.GetStream)

        using (sr)
            docText = sr.ReadToEnd
        End using

        Dim regexText As Regex = New Regex("Hello world!")
        docText = regexText.Replace(docText, "Hi Everyone!")
        Dim sw As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter(wordDoc.MainDocumentPart.GetStream(FileMode.Create))

        using (sw)
            sw.Write(docText)
        End using
    End using
End Sub

See Also

Reference

Class Library Reference

Other Resources

Regular Expressions