LanguageLog has a very amusing post about the perils of the use of Search and Replace.

Very funny.

I ran into a similar problem back in the infancy of search and replace. A complex loan agreement (100 plus pages) was being modified to reflect that the lender was not a Bank, but a Credit Union. The term Lender was chosen to replace Bank, with the result that one of the Events of Default became "declaring Lenderruptcy". The agreement went through several drafts before anyone noticed it.

Funny, arnie.

Oh, there was a great one that happened at our workplace. Unfortunately I can't be specific, but fixing it cost thousands of dollars.

I try very hard not to use "search and replace" for just that reason.

I use search and replace a lot at work, but I almost never just have it go off and replace all occurrences, but do them one at a time, so I can review what's being change. (Instead of Change All, I use Change and Find Next.)

Yes, that's the way to do it. In our document the "search and replace" replaced something that was a header on every single page, making quite an embarrassing change.

Aw, come'on, Kalleh, not even a little hint, huh, huh?

My computer doesn't seem to have Search and Replace. It has Search and Destroy. It's supposed to be an anti-virus program. Is that why people who receive e-mails from me think I'm a bit odd?

quote:

Is that why people who receive e-mails from me think I'm a bit odd?

No, we know you're odd for myriad other reasons.