Recursive find replace in files using regex (Python)

Python recipe 580653 by ccpizza (files, regex, replace, search). Revision 5.

Recursively find and replace text in files under a specific folder with preview of changed data in dry-run mode

Example Usage

See what is going to change (dry run):

find_replace.py --dir project/myfolder --search-regex "\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}" --replace-regex "2012-12-12" --dryrun

Do actual replacement:

find_replace.py --dir project/myfolder --search-regex "\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}" --replace-regex "2012-12-12"

Do actual replacement and create backup files:

find_replace.py --dir project/myfolder --search-regex "\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}" --replace-regex "2012-12-12" --create-backup

Same action as previous command with short-hand syntax:

find_replace.py -d project/myfolder -s "\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}" -r "2012-12-12" -b

Output of find_replace.py -h:

DESCRIPTION:
    Find and replace recursively from the given folder using regular expressions

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --dir DIR, -d DIR     folder to search in; by default current folder
  --search-regex SEARCH_REGEX, -s SEARCH_REGEX
                        search regex
  --replace-regex REPLACE_REGEX, -r REPLACE_REGEX
                        replacement regex
  --glob GLOB, -g GLOB  glob pattern, i.e. *.html
  --dryrun, -dr         don't replace anything just show what is going to be
                        done
  --create-backup, -b   Create backup files

USAGE:
   find_replace.py -d [my_folder] -s <search_regex> -r <replace_regex> -g [glob_pattern]