Shortcut for Replace button in "Find and Replace" dialog

Question

I call up Find and Replace dialog with Ctrl+H. On F3 it finds the result but then I must hunt the Replace button using the mouse. And on every new find, it changes the screen position. Is there any way to use this dialog using only keyboard?

It will save me a few precious seconds multiplied by some very large number (I'm in the middle of heavy refactoring).

Answer 1

In visual studio 2015:

• Ctrl+H opens the Replace dialog.
• Ctrl+F opens the Find dialog.

Within that dialog:

• Alt+N - Focus "Find" entry field
• Alt+P - Focus "Replace with" entry field
• Alt+C - Toggle Match Case
• Alt+W - Toggle Whole Word
• Alt+E - Toggle Regular Expressions

• Alt+L - Open "Look In" dropdown list. Use Up/Down and Enter to select from this list:

  • Current Block
  • Selection
  • Current Document
  • All Open Documents
  • Current Project
  • Current Solution

• Alt+R - Replace Next

• Alt+A - Replace All

• Esc - Dismiss dialog

For example, to replace "foo" with "bar" within the current selection:

• Ctrl+H - Opens the Replace dialog, with focus on "Search Term".
  • Enter "foo"
• Alt+P - Focus is now on "Replacement Term"
  • Enter "bar"
• Alt+L, choose "Selection", press Enter.
• Alt+W - Whole word only
• Alt+R - Replace first term
• Esc - Close replace dialog.

Answer 2

If you dock the find/replace window then it will not move with each new find.

You can then alternate with 1 finger on F3 to move to next find, while hovering the mouse over the non-moving replace button to replace what you need.