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Label Find and Replace

Find and replace in Civil 3D labels - the text in the label styles and the text overrides on single labels - without opening each label's Text Component Editor. Fields and formatting are never touched.

Command VDCLABELREPLACE · every VDC tab › Full Suite panel
Find and replace in Civil 3D labels - the text in the label styles and the text overrides on single labels - without opening each label's Text Component Editor. Fields and formatting are never touched.

What it searches

  • Label styles: every Text, Reference Text and Text For Each component of every label style, child styles included. A change shows on every label using the style. Narrow to one label type (Pipe, Structure, Alignment ...).
  • Text overrides: text typed into one label (or one label of a station / band group). Every label in model space and on every layout, or picked labels.
  • Protected: property fields (<[Pipe Slope(...)]>), AutoCAD fields, MText codes (font, height, color, stacking, \P), %%d / %%c / %%p. A find for "Slope" edits the typed word SLOPE, never the field.
  • Wildcards: * / ?, [*] / [?] literal; replacement wildcards carry the match; match case, whole word. \P in the replacement starts a new line.

Review, write & output

  • Find All lists every match before and after, readable (<Pipe Slope>, line breaks as /). Nothing is written until Replace All.
  • One transaction: each item re-read, replaced, written and read back; a child style already following its changed parent is not edited twice. One U reverses the run.
  • Labels on a locked layer are skipped and listed. Xref labels are not searched.
  • Output: count report + <drawing> - Label Find and Replace.csv under VDC Reports (readable and raw text before / after, result, position).
  • Settings %APPDATA%\VDC\LabelReplace\settings.json (env VDC_LABELREPLACE_SETTINGS), schema-tolerant.

Dialog

Label Find and Replace dialog
Label Find and Replace - VDCLABELREPLACE
Label Find and Replace dialog
Label Find and Replace - VDCLABELREPLACE

When to use it

  • A label style says EX. and the office standard is now EXIST. - change it once for every label.
  • A dozen pipe labels were overridden by hand with an old note and need the same fix.
  • Changing the wording typed around a field (SLOPE to GRADE) without touching the field itself.

How to run it

  1. Run VDCLABELREPLACE; type the text to find and the replacement.
  2. Tick Label styles (and pick a label type, or leave All) and/or Text overrides (every label or picked).
  3. Click Find All and read the review list - every match, before and after.
  4. Click Replace All, or Cancel to leave the drawing as it was.
  5. Read the count report; the CSV in VDC Reports lists every change.

Options

  • Label type: limits the style search to one branch - Pipe, Structure, Alignment, Profile ...
  • Picked labels: select or window labels on screen after the dialog; other objects are ignored.
  • Whole word only: matches only where the hit is not joined to another letter or digit.
  • \P in the replacement: starts a new line in the label.

Watch out for

  • A style change shows on every label using that style - narrow the label type if only one kind should change.
  • Field values (a station, a pipe size from the part) are not text and are never matched.
  • Labels on a locked layer and labels inside xrefs are not changed.

Related: Point Find and Replace · Label QC · Font Swap