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I want to use regular expressions to search a page in Firefox.

Is this possible?

nc4pk
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BrunoLM
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    Please change your accepted answer. The one you picked years ago is about an extension that isn't being developed anymore. –  Jan 08 '16 at 01:20
  • See also these similar questions: [How can I search for regular expressions within webpages using Google Chrome or IE?](https://superuser.com/q/417875) and [How to run a regex search on Google Chrome or Firefox?](https://superuser.com/q/385418) – iconoclast Nov 06 '22 at 18:19

4 Answers4

38

Since the other alternatives offered here have been left in the dust of technological change, and rendered incompatible with latest versions, I'll drop the two current compatible addons I found (though I haven't tested them):

  • Regex Search
    Search in HTML or Highlight using Regular Expression (REGEX) and output the results using template, with saving profiles functionality, you need to know 'basic' Regular expression to benefit from this plugin
  • {find+}
    {find+} is a simple Find-in-Page extension hosting a the ability to search a web page or document by regular expression. It has been designed to look and behave much like the CTRL-F function, but extended to provide a feature-rich and robust user experience with the aim of completely replacing the native Find-in-Page tool.
André Levy
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    Neither "Regex Search" nor "{find+}" give results for `\p{IsCyrillic}` on page full of text in Russian. – izogfif Jan 29 '19 at 06:59
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    Upvote only for {find}+ since it acts as find but regex search doesnt highlight in the page. – Mark Aug 14 '19 at 10:11
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    @Mark To clarify your comment, [{find}+](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/brandon1024-find/) *does* highlight regex search result in the page. The alternative extension [Regex Search](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/regexsearch/) may not – which is what you say. – tanius May 10 '20 at 11:17
  • @Mark Regex Search does highlight on the page – Lubo Kanev Apr 01 '21 at 09:51
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Fastest Search [no longer available]

Best text search on page/in tabs - count/regex/match distribution/list/find-as-you-type. Fastest Instant web/history search in URLBar. Best custom search and multi-tab preview in any box or for selected text. Autocopy, dnd link/image.

12

Yet another option matching my needs very well is Regex Find which is open sourced. It's simple, though it may not be so polished.

Screenshot

Peter Mortensen
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Bohr
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    I honestly prefer this way more to @Oleg's answer of Fastest Search. IMO it's super bloated and kinda confusing, I love the fact that Regex Find is integrated into the native Firefox search – Jeeter Jul 13 '16 at 19:57
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    Does currently not work with Firefox 50: https://github.com/mortalis13/Regex-Find/issues/6 – tlo Nov 26 '16 at 20:35
  • @tlo: some instructions in the about field on [how to run it on current versions](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/regex-find/), if you like to live adverturously. – André Levy Jul 27 '18 at 00:16
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    Not available anymore – wjandrea Jul 17 '19 at 16:47
  • The page doesn't exist anymore! – Kiran May 26 '23 at 11:41
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XUL/Migemo

This includes 3 features about the find toolbar. First, the dictionary-assisted find. Second, more customizable Find Toolbar. Third, the highlight feature like Safari 3.

harrymc
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    Not available for FF6 yet ... – Myer Aug 17 '11 at 19:37
  • @Peter Nore: You can try to turn off the compatibility checking. I am still using add-ons from FF4 that are supposedly not compatible, and most of them work just fine. – harrymc Aug 17 '11 at 19:47
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    How do you activate the regex search functionality with XUL/Migemo? – user48604 Sep 02 '11 at 14:19
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    It seems development on this plugin has stopped. The last updated date on the addon page is `July 13, 2010`. – Ashutosh Jindal Dec 17 '12 at 17:50
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    yeah shame, not available for latest versions of Firefox! any alternatives? – Charbel Mar 27 '14 at 09:23
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    @Charbel: There is a good chance that XUL/Migemo can still be forced to work. A quick google for "firefox add-on compatibility" got me [this article](http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-make-any-firefox-add-on-compatible-with-all-versions/), but there are many more useful results. – harrymc Mar 27 '14 at 11:51