How to let users find and replace text

Paul Hudson @twostraws December 1st 2022

Updated for Xcode 14.2

New in iOS 16

SwiftUI’s TextEditor comes with built-in support to let the user search for text, or search and replace depending on their needs. It works out of the box for users who have a keyboard attached, so a view like this will work immediately:

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var bio = "Describe yourself."

    var body: some View {
        NavigationStack {
            TextEditor(text: $bio)
                .navigationTitle("Edit Bio")
        }
    }
}

Download this as an Xcode project

To try that out, tap to activate the TextEditor, then press Cmd+F to active search, or press Option+Cmd+F to activate search and replace.

Note: Find and replace works only with TextEditor, not with TextField.

For users without a hardware keyboard, you can programmatically show the find interface using the findNavigator() modifier. For example, this toggles search using a toolbar button:

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var bio = "Describe yourself."
    @State private var isShowingFindNavigator = false

    var body: some View {
        NavigationStack {
            TextEditor(text: $bio)
                .findNavigator(isPresented: $isShowingFindNavigator)
                .toolbar {
                    Button("Toggle Search") {
                        isShowingFindNavigator.toggle()
                    }
                }
                .navigationTitle("Edit Bio")
        }
    }
}

Download this as an Xcode project

Tip: Passing true to findNavigator() when no TextEditor is currently accepting input will make the system attempt to find and activate one automatically. If there is more than one to choose from the system will pick one for you.

If you explicitly want a view to opt out of search and/or replace, use one or both of findDisabled() and replaceDisabled(), like this:

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var bio = "Describe yourself."

    var body: some View {
        NavigationStack {
            TextEditor(text: $bio)
                .replaceDisabled()
                .navigationTitle("Edit Bio")
        }
    }
}

Download this as an Xcode project

Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!

How to let users find and replace text

Similar solutions…