fix: make regex opt‑in for search/replace

languages/search-replace-for-block-editor.pot

@@ -1,65 +1,77 @@
-# Copyright (C) badasswp
+# Copyright (C) 2026 badasswp
 # This file is distributed under the GPL v2 or later.
 msgid ""
 msgstr ""
-"Project-Id-Version: Search and Replace for Block Editor\n"
-"POT-Creation-Date: 2024-07-2 00:00+0100\n"
-"PO-Revision-Date: 2024-07-2 00:00+0100\n"
+"Project-Id-Version: Search and Replace for Block Editor 1.9.0\n"
+"Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/search-and-replace\n"
+"POT-Creation-Date: 2026-01-29T09:23:52+00:00\n"
+"PO-Revision-Date: 2026-01-29T09:23:52+00:00\n"
 "Last-Translator: \n"
 "Language-Team: \n"
 "MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
 "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
 "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"
 "X-Domain: search-replace-for-block-editor\n"
 "Plural-Forms: nplurals=INTEGER; plural=EXPRESSION;\n"
-"X-Generator: Poedit 3.4.1\n"
+"X-Generator: WP-CLI 2.12.0\n"
 "X-Poedit-Basepath: ..\n"
 "X-Poedit-Flags-xgettext: --add-comments=translators:\n"
 "X-Poedit-WPHeader: search-replace-for-block-editor.php\n"
 "X-Poedit-SourceCharset: UTF-8\n"
 "X-Poedit-SearchPath-0: .\n"
 "X-Poedit-SearchPathExcluded-0: *.min.js\n"
 
-#. Plugin Name
+#. Plugin Name of the plugin
+#: search-replace-for-block-editor.php
 msgid "Search and Replace for Block Editor"
 msgstr ""
 
-#. Plugin URI
+#. Plugin URI of the plugin
+#: search-replace-for-block-editor.php
 msgid "https://github.com/badasswp/search-and-replace"
 msgstr ""
 
-#. Description
+#. Description of the plugin
+#: search-replace-for-block-editor.php
 msgid "Search and Replace text within the Block Editor."
 msgstr ""
 
-#. Author
+#. Author of the plugin
+#: search-replace-for-block-editor.php
 msgid "badasswp"
 msgstr ""
 
-#. Author URI
+#. Author URI of the plugin
+#: search-replace-for-block-editor.php
 msgid "https://github.com/badasswp"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: dist/app.js
+#. translators: Plugin directory path.
+#: search-replace-for-block-editor.php:32
+#, php-format
+msgid "Fatal Error: Composer not setup in %s"
+msgstr ""
+
+#: dist/app.js:1
 msgid "Search & Replace"
 msgstr ""
 
-#. Search
-msgid "Search"
+#: dist/app.js:1
+msgid "Invalid regular expression."
 msgstr ""
 
-#. Replace
-msgid "Replace"
+#: dist/app.js:1
+msgid "Match Case"
 msgstr ""
 
-#. Done
-msgid "Done"
+#: dist/app.js:1
+msgid "Use Regular Expression"
 msgstr ""
 
-#. dist/app.js
+#: dist/app.js:1
 msgid "item(s) replaced successfully"
 msgstr ""
 
-#. dist/app.js
-msgid "Match Case | Expression"
+#: dist/app.js:1
+msgid "item(s) found"
 msgstr ""

src/core/app.tsx

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
 	ToggleControl,
 	Button,
 	Tooltip,
+	Notice,
 } from '@wordpress/components';
 
 import { Shortcut } from './shortcut';
@@ -18,6 +19,7 @@ import {
 	isCaseSensitive,
 	isSelectionInModal,
 	isWpVersionGreaterThanOrEqualTo,
+	escapeRegExp,
 } from './utils';
 
 import '../styles/app.scss';
@@ -38,7 +40,9 @@ const SearchReplaceForBlockEditor = (): JSX.Element => {
 	const [ searchInput, setSearchInput ] = useState< string >( '' );
 	const [ replaceInput, setReplaceInput ] = useState< string >( '' );
 	const [ caseSensitive, setCaseSensitive ] = useState< boolean >( false );
+	const [ useRegex, setUseRegex ] = useState< boolean >( false );
 	const [ context, setContext ] = useState< boolean >( false );
+	const [ error, setError ] = useState< string >( '' );
 
 	// Reference to the first field inside the modal.
 	const searchFieldRef = useRef< HTMLInputElement | null >( null );
@@ -63,6 +67,7 @@ const SearchReplaceForBlockEditor = (): JSX.Element => {
 			setReplacements( 0 );
 			setSearchInput( '' );
 			setReplaceInput( '' );
+			setError( '' );
 		}
 	};
 
@@ -91,6 +96,19 @@ const SearchReplaceForBlockEditor = (): JSX.Element => {
 		setCaseSensitive( newValue );
 	};
 
+	/**
+	 * Handle regex toggle and persist preference.
+	 *
+	 * @since 1.10.0
+	 *
+	 * @param {boolean} newValue
+	 * @return {void}
+	 */
+	const handleUseRegex = ( newValue: boolean ): void => {
+		setUseRegex( newValue );
+		persistRegexPreference( newValue );
+	};
+
 	/**
 	 * Listen for changes to input or case-sensitivity
 	 * and perform Searches only.
@@ -102,7 +120,7 @@ const SearchReplaceForBlockEditor = (): JSX.Element => {
 	useEffect( () => {
 		replace();
 		// eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
-	}, [ searchInput, caseSensitive ] );
+	}, [ searchInput, caseSensitive, useRegex ] );
 
 	/**
 	 * Modal Focus.
@@ -121,6 +139,63 @@ const SearchReplaceForBlockEditor = (): JSX.Element => {
 		}
 	}, [ isModalVisible ] );
 
+	/**
+	 * Load persisted preference on first render.
+	 *
+	 * @since 1.10.0
+	 */
+	useEffect( () => {
+		setUseRegex( getPersistedRegexPreference() );
+	}, [] );
+
+	/**
+	 * Get regex preference from core/preferences.
+	 *
+	 * @since 1.10.0
+	 *
+	 * @return {boolean} Whether regex is enabled.
+	 */
+	const getPersistedRegexPreference = (): boolean => {
+		const scope = 'search-replace-for-block-editor';
+		const key = 'useRegex';
+
+		try {
+			const prefSelect = select( 'core/preferences' ) as any;
+			if ( prefSelect?.get ) {
+				const value = prefSelect.get( scope, key );
+				if ( typeof value === 'boolean' ) {
+					return value;
+				}
+			}
+		} catch ( e ) {
+			// Ignore preference store errors.
+		}
+
+		return false;
+	};
+
+	/**
+	 * Persist regex preference per user.
+	 *
+	 * @since 1.10.0
+	 *
+	 * @param {boolean} value
+	 * @return {void}
+	 */
+	const persistRegexPreference = ( value: boolean ): void => {
+		const scope = 'search-replace-for-block-editor';
+		const key = 'useRegex';
+
+		try {
+			const prefDispatch = dispatch( 'core/preferences' ) as any;
+			if ( prefDispatch?.set ) {
+				prefDispatch.set( scope, key, value );
+			}
+		} catch ( e ) {
+			// Ignore preference store errors.
+		}
+	};
+
 	/**
 	 * Handle the implementation for when the user
 	 * clicks the 'Replace' button.
@@ -134,15 +209,31 @@ const SearchReplaceForBlockEditor = (): JSX.Element => {
 	const replace = ( status: boolean = false ): void => {
 		setContext( status );
 		setReplacements( 0 );
+		setError( '' );
 
 		if ( ! searchInput ) {
 			return;
 		}
 
-		const pattern: RegExp = new RegExp(
-			`(?<!<[^>]*)${ searchInput }(?<![^>]*<)`,
-			isCaseSensitive() || caseSensitive ? 'g' : 'gi'
-		);
+		const searchValue = useRegex
+			? searchInput
+			: escapeRegExp( searchInput );
+		let pattern: RegExp;
+
+		try {
+			pattern = new RegExp(
+				`(?<!<[^>]*)${ searchValue }(?<![^>]*<)`,
+				isCaseSensitive() || caseSensitive ? 'g' : 'gi'
+			);
+		} catch ( err ) {
+			setError(
+				__(
+					'Invalid regular expression.',
+					'search-replace-for-block-editor'
+				)
+			);
+			return;
+		}
 
 		select( 'core/block-editor' )
 			.getBlocks()
@@ -395,15 +486,30 @@ const SearchReplaceForBlockEditor = (): JSX.Element => {
 					<div id="search-replace-modal__toggle">
 						<ToggleControl
 							label={ __(
-								'Match Case | Expression',
+								'Match Case',
 								'search-replace-for-block-editor'
 							) }
 							checked={ caseSensitive }
 							onChange={ handleCaseSensitive }
 							__nextHasNoMarginBottom
 						/>
+						<ToggleControl
+							label={ __(
+								'Use Regular Expression',
+								'search-replace-for-block-editor'
+							) }
+							checked={ useRegex }
+							onChange={ handleUseRegex }
+							__nextHasNoMarginBottom
+						/>
 					</div>
 
+					{ error ? (
+						<Notice status="error" isDismissible={ false }>
+							{ error }
+						</Notice>
+					) : null }
+
 					{ replacements ? (
 						<div id="search-replace-modal__notification">
 							<p>

src/core/utils.tsx

@@ -334,6 +334,22 @@ export const getFallbackTextBlocks = (): string[] => {
 	];
 };
 
+/**
+ * Escape user input for safe literal RegExp usage.
+ *
+ * @since 1.10.0
+ *
+ * @param {string} value Raw user input.
+ * @return {string} Escaped input.
+ */
+export const escapeRegExp = ( value: string ): string => {
+	if ( typeof value !== 'string' ) {
+		return '';
+	}
+
+	return value.replace( /[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&' );
+};
+
 /**
  * Get Shortcut Event.
  *

tests/utils.test.tsx

@@ -364,6 +364,28 @@ describe( 'getFallbackTextBlocks', () => {
 	} );
 } );
 
+describe( 'escapeRegExp', () => {
+	beforeEach( () => {
+		jest.resetModules();
+	} );
+
+	it( 'escapeRegExp escapes regex metacharacters', () => {
+		const { escapeRegExp } = require( '../src/core/utils' );
+
+		const escaped = escapeRegExp( 'a.b+c*' );
+
+		expect( escaped ).toBe( 'a\\.b\\+c\\*' );
+	} );
+
+	it( 'escapeRegExp leaves plain text unchanged', () => {
+		const { escapeRegExp } = require( '../src/core/utils' );
+
+		const escaped = escapeRegExp( 'plain text' );
+
+		expect( escaped ).toBe( 'plain text' );
+	} );
+} );
+
 describe( 'getShortcutEvent', () => {
 	beforeEach( () => {
 		jest.resetModules();