Need To Search For Text In .DOC & .DOCX Files & Replace

[alteredstate]

Hello Everyone,

I need to search and replace text within several hundred .doc and .docx files but I've only been able to find tutorials on how to search and replace text within basic text files. Does such a utility exist for the Linux world? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

[Krendoshazin]

I'm afraid it's not quite as simple as grepping a text document. Word documents are encoded so that pictures, formatting, etc., will all be rendered properly by a given program. If you open up a .docx file in a text editor it will just look like random garbage. If you were able to convert the file to text in order to modify it, then you would lose all of your formatting, etc.

[alteredstate]

I'm afraid it's not quite as simple as grepping a text document. Word documents are encoded so that pictures, formatting, etc., will all be rendered properly by a given program. If you open up a .docx file in a text editor it will just look like random garbage. If you were able to convert the file to text in order to modify it, then you would lose all of your formatting, etc.

I apologize for replying so late, the notification was lost in my Spam folder. I noticed that Windows 7 can actually search within .doc & .docx if you click on the "Windows Icon" on the lower left hand corner of your screen in Windows 7 and type someting in the Search Programs & Files field. That seems simple enough but I'm guessing it would be very difficult to incorporate that into Linux?