Question

I would like to search multiple files via eclipse for the following 2 lines:

@Length(max = L_255)
private String description;

and replace them with these two:

@Length(max = L_255, message="{validator.description.len}")
private String description;

Answer 1

Search are multi-line by default in Eclipse when you are using regex:

(\@Length\(max = L_255)\)([\r\n\s]+private)

I would like to add “private String description;”

(\@Length\(max = L_255)\)([\r\n\s]+private\s+?String\s+description\s*?;)

replaced by:

\1, message="{validator.description.len}")\2

It works perfectly in a File Search triggered by a CTRL–H.

As mentioned in Tika‘s answer, you can directly copy the two lines selected in the “Containing Text” field: those lines will be converted as a regexp for you by Eclipse.