Simple Recursive Find and Replace PHP CLI Script

find-replace.php

<?php
	/**
	* Tyler Whitney	
	*
	* PHP Command line script that recursively finds and replaces a string within files of directories.
	* 
	* Useage: php script.php DIRECTORY SEARCH-STRING REPLACE-STRING (PARTIAL-FILE-NAME-MATCH)
	*
	* The script will replace all strings matching SEARCH-STRING within all files inside of DIRECTORY and its sub-directories with REPLACE-STRING. 	
	* If you provide the option PARTIAL-FILE-NAME-MATCH it will only replace occurences in files that their filenames contain the partail search.
	*
	*/
$count=0;
$dirCount=0;

function isCli() {
    return php_sapi_name()==="cli";
}

function addCode($dir, $find, $replace, $str=''){
	if (is_dir($dir)) {
		if ($dh = opendir($dir)) {
			$dirCount++;
			while (($file = readdir($dh)) !== false) {
				if( is_dir( $dir . $file ) ){
					addCode($dir, $find, $replace, $str, $count);
				}
				else{
					if( $str == '' ){
						$temp = file_get_contents( $dir . $file );
						$temp = str_replace($find, $replace, $temp);
						if( !file_put_contents( $dir . $file, $temp ) ){
							echo "There was a problem (permissions?) replacing the file " . $dir . $file;
						}
						else{
							echo "File " . $dir . $file . " replaced!";
							$count++;
						}
					}
					else{
						if(strpos($file,$str)){
							$temp = file_get_contents( $dir . $file );
							$temp = str_replace($find, $replace, $temp);
							if( !file_put_contents( $dir . $file, $temp ) ){
								echo "There was a problem (permissions?) replacing the file " . $dir . $file;
							}
							else{
								echo "File " . $dir . $file . " replaced!";	
								$count++;
							}
						}
					}
				}
			}
			closedir($dh);
		}
		else{
			echo "There was a problem opening the directory " . $dir . " (permissions maybe?)";	
		}
	}
	else{
		echo "You gave us a file instead of a directory, we could check that instead, but this is only designed for recursing really; use vim or something!";
	}
	echo "Completed recursing" . $dir . "!";
}

if( isCli() ){
	if( !isset($argv[1]) ){
		echo "You need to specify a directory!";
	}
	else if( !isset( $argv[2] ) ){
		echo "You need to specify something to search for!";
	}
	else if( !isset( $argv[3] ) ){
		"You need to specify something to replace the search with!";
	}
	else if( isset( $argv[4] ) ){
		$dirArg = $argv[1];
		$findArg = $argv[2];
		$replaceArg = $argv[3];
		$strArg = $argv[4];
		echo "We're starting the search of all files in directory " . $dirArg . " that match filename containing " . $strArg . " recursively!";
		addCode($dirArg, $findArg, $replaceArg, $strArg);
		echo "We replaced " . $count . " in " . $dirCount . " directories!";
	}
	else{
		$dirArg = $argv[1];
		$findArg = $argv[2];
		$replaceArg = $argv[3];
		echo "We're starting the search of all files in directory " . $dirArg . " in all files recursively!";
		addCode($dirArg, $findArg, $replaceArg);
		echo "We replaced " . $count . " in " . $dirCount . " directories!";
	}
}
else{
	echo "Can't run this shit from the web.";
}
?>

This code has been updated for PHP 8+. You can find it here

This code has been updated for PHP 8+. You can find it here

Wow, I didn't even remember this, 12 years ago. I can't remember what I needed it for. I think it was when I first started my position at a new place and was migrating from one document management system to another and needed to bulk rename files in directories recursively. Could come in handy, I'll check the PHP 8+ version out. Thanks!

You're welcome. I use it all the time. It's come in real handy, so thank you for posting it originally!