How to Replace Text in a PDF

Replace Text Example

To replace text, we can simply call the replaceText method. The method takes three parameters: the first one is PageSelection, which specifies the page; the second is a string representing the old text; and the third is the new text. For this example below, we will call the PageSelection.firstPage() method, which retrieves the first page of the PDF. We will replace all instances of '.NET6' with '.NET7'. You will encounter a runtime exception if the method cannot find the specified old text.

import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.*;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.edit.PageSelection;
import java.io.IOException;

/**
 * Main application class for demonstrating how to replace text in a PDF.
 */
public class App {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        // Set the IronPDF license key
        License.setLicenseKey("IRONPDF-MYLICENSE-KEY-1EF01");

        // Render HTML content into a PDF
        PdfDocument pdf = PdfDocument.renderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>.NET6</h1>");

        // Define the old and new text for replacement
        String oldText = ".NET6";
        String newText = ".NET7";

        // Replace all instances of oldText with newText on the first page
        pdf.replaceText(PageSelection.firstPage(), oldText, newText);

        // Save the resulting PDF document
        pdf.saveAs("replaceText.pdf");
    }
}

import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.*;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.edit.PageSelection;
import java.io.IOException;

/**
 * Main application class for demonstrating how to replace text in a PDF.
 */
public class App {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        // Set the IronPDF license key
        License.setLicenseKey("IRONPDF-MYLICENSE-KEY-1EF01");

        // Render HTML content into a PDF
        PdfDocument pdf = PdfDocument.renderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>.NET6</h1>");

        // Define the old and new text for replacement
        String oldText = ".NET6";
        String newText = ".NET7";

        // Replace all instances of oldText with newText on the first page
        pdf.replaceText(PageSelection.firstPage(), oldText, newText);

        // Save the resulting PDF document
        pdf.saveAs("replaceText.pdf");
    }
}

Replace Text on Multiple Pages

We use the same replaceText method to replace text on multiple pages. But this time, we call the pageRange method from the PageSelection class and input a list of Integers to specify that we want to replace the text only on the first and third pages.

import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.*;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.edit.PageSelection;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

/**
 * Main application class for demonstrating how to replace text on multiple pages of a PDF.
 */
public class App {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        // Set the IronPDF license key
        License.setLicenseKey("IRONPDF-MYLICENSE-KEY-1EF01");

        // HTML content that will be converted to a 3-page PDF
        String html = "<p> .NET6 </p>" +
                      "<p> This is 1st Page </p>" +
                      "<div style='page-break-after: always;'></div>" +
                      "<p> This is 2nd Page</p>" +
                      "<div style='page-break-after: always;'></div>" +
                      "<p> .NET6 </p>" +
                      "<p> This is 3rd Page</p>";

        // Render the HTML content into a PDF
        PdfDocument pdf = PdfDocument.renderHtmlAsPdf(html);

        // Define the old and new text for replacement
        String oldText = ".NET6";
        String newText = ".NET7";

        // Define the pages where text replacement should occur (first and third page)
        List<Integer> pages = Arrays.asList(0, 2);

        // Replace the text on specified pages
        pdf.replaceText(PageSelection.pageRange(pages), oldText, newText);

        // Save the resulting PDF document
        pdf.saveAs("replaceTextOnMultiplePages.pdf");
    }
}

import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.*;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.edit.PageSelection;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

/**
 * Main application class for demonstrating how to replace text on multiple pages of a PDF.
 */
public class App {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        // Set the IronPDF license key
        License.setLicenseKey("IRONPDF-MYLICENSE-KEY-1EF01");

        // HTML content that will be converted to a 3-page PDF
        String html = "<p> .NET6 </p>" +
                      "<p> This is 1st Page </p>" +
                      "<div style='page-break-after: always;'></div>" +
                      "<p> This is 2nd Page</p>" +
                      "<div style='page-break-after: always;'></div>" +
                      "<p> .NET6 </p>" +
                      "<p> This is 3rd Page</p>";

        // Render the HTML content into a PDF
        PdfDocument pdf = PdfDocument.renderHtmlAsPdf(html);

        // Define the old and new text for replacement
        String oldText = ".NET6";
        String newText = ".NET7";

        // Define the pages where text replacement should occur (first and third page)
        List<Integer> pages = Arrays.asList(0, 2);

        // Replace the text on specified pages
        pdf.replaceText(PageSelection.pageRange(pages), oldText, newText);

        // Save the resulting PDF document
        pdf.saveAs("replaceTextOnMultiplePages.pdf");
    }
}

Explore PageSelection Class

Like the example above, using the PageSelection methods allows developers to specify which pages to replace text within. A complete list of the parameters is below.

• allPages: A method that selects all pages of the PDF.
• firstPage: A method that selects the first page of the PDF.
• lastPage: A method that selects the last page of the PDF.
• pageRange(int startIndex, int endIndex): A method that specifies a range of pages to select. For example, setting startIndex = 0 and endIndex = 2 selects pages 1 to 3.
• pageRange(List<Integer> pageList): A method that specifies which pages to select; from the example above, if the list contains the integers 0 and 2, the method selects only the first and third page, skipping the second page.
• singlePage(int pageIndex): A method that specifies a single page of the PDF.