Search and Replace Plugin (CMSR) - Replacement Rules

Replacement Rules

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Navigate to Admin Dashboard → Search & Replace → Settings → Replacement Rules tab. 

On the top of the tab you can find the search field and two checkboxes "from" and "to". It will help you to search and navigate between multiple replacement rules that you can create.

Lower is located a list with the replacement rules that you've created.

There are options to change:

• From String / To String - Which string will be searched and then replaced.
• Case - If enabled, the rule will be case sensitive (e.g. will differentiate "a" and "A").
• Regex - If enabled, the From String and To String fields will be parsed for Regex rules. Learn more: Using Regex.
• Pause - If enabled, the rule will not be applied. Useful for testing.
• Add restrictions / Locations - Learn more below.
• Options:
  • Update Rule - Update the rule after you've changed something.
  • Implement in DB - Clicking on this button will commit the changes straightly in the database. Learn more: Saving Changes to the Database.

  • View Related Posts - Clicking on this button will show you the list of all posts and pages where the From String rule was found. There you can choose all posts where you want to commit a replacement rule and add them to inclusion or exclusion lists using buttons Insert into Include and Insert into Exclude. You can also use a search bar in the appearing pop-up to filter related posts. Note: this feature was introduced in version 1.4.8.

    

  • Delete Rule - Click it to delete the rule.

Adding Restrictions

The plugin allows to restrict each rule in three ways:

1) Timeframe 

Click on the box for Add Timeframe.

A new box appears to set a date and time for the restriction. 

Setting the dates means that this rule will be applied only between the date range defined in the restriction. 

You can add more than one timeframe.

Important: when you set a date and time for the restriction, you need to know that this option works according to the Universal time - and it can be different from the local time that you set in your site settings. To check it, navigate to Admin Dashboard → Settings → General and scroll to the option Timezone.

There are displayed Universal time and Local time.

For example, the case that you see on the screen we have a difference in 3 hours between universal and local time set on the site. So, if we want the replacement rule work from 12 to 13 o'clock according to the local time, we need to set the time in the Add Timeframe option from 9 to 10 o'clock.

2) Restrictions

Click on the box for Add Exclusion

A new box appears with set of checkboxes.

Each of the checkboxes allows to exclude given rule from working in associated area. For example, checking Site Title means that, even if the General Settings say otherwise, this rule will not work in titles.

The list of available restrictions are:

• Site Title
• Page Title
• Content
• Excerpt
• Comments
• Links (this restriction was introduced in version 1.5.9)

3) Location

Choose between:

• All - All content will be considered.
• Include - You can define specific posts or pages where the rule will be applied despite the General Settings.
• Exclude - You can define specific posts or pages where the rule will not be applied despite the General Settings.

Select one or multiple posts or pages.

Reorder Rules using Drag and Drop

Since the order of the rule has a great implications on the output of the content, you can change the order by using a drag and drop interface.

Define Number of Rules Per Page

You can add pagination support or display all rules on one screen using the settings found under the Settings tab.

Adding More Rules

Under the list of created rules, you can find the form for creating a new rule. Just fill all needed information, configure the options and click the Add New Rule button.

To save the changes, click on the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.

Under the list of created rules, you can also find the button Save All Changes. It can be useful in case if you edit a few rules - there's no need to click Update for each that rule, you can just click the button Save All Changes to update all rules that you've edited at once.

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