Find Replace is a tool for matching the value in the target table using a lookup table. Don't fool by its name, 'find and replace' isn't its only function. It has two use cases.
1st use case: Literally, find and replace
Let’s say you have the following target table & lookup table
What you want to do is to:
- Using the word in the ‘find’ column in the Lookup table
- Search the word in the ‘string column’ in the Target table
- replace the word in the ‘replace’ column in the Lookup table
The configuration and results are as follows:
A few things you can observe in the result:
- cases are sensitive unless you selected the ‘Case Insensitive Find’
- multiple replacements will be done in each cell if the cells contain multiple chunks of string that match the ‘find’ column in the Lookup table
2nd use case: find and append a field
Let’s say you have the following target table & lookup table
What you want to do it to is to:
- using the word in the ‘find’ column in the Lookup table
- search the word in the ‘string column’ in the Target table
- return the word in the ‘replace’ column in the Lookup table to a new field in the Target table
The configuration and results are as follows:
Select ’Append field(s) to record’, instead of ‘Replace Found Text With Value’
These are the two use cases of Find Replace tool in Alteryx: find and replace + find and append. Hope you take something away!