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WordPipe CLI Reference | DataMystic

WordPipe Command-Line Reference

Automate batch find and replace operations across Microsoft Word documents using WordPipe's command-line interface. Process thousands of .doc, .docx, and .rtf files in a single operation.

Command Syntax

WordPipe.exe [input options] [find/replace options] [output options] [advanced options]

All parameters use the /parameter:value format. String values containing spaces must be enclosed in double quotes. Parameters are case-insensitive.

Input File Parameters

Parameter Description Example
/input:<path> Input file or folder path. Specify a single file or a folder to process all matching files within it. /input:"C:\Docs\report.docx"
/inputmask:<mask> File mask filter when input is a folder. Supports wildcards. Default: *.doc;*.docx;*.rtf /inputmask:"*.docx"
/subfolders Include subfolders recursively when input is a folder. /subfolders
/inputlist:<file> Path to a text file containing one input file path per line. /inputlist:"C:\filelist.txt"

Find and Replace Parameters

Parameter Description Example
/find:<text> Text string to search for in documents. Required for find-and-replace operations. /find:"old server name"
/replace:<text> Replacement text. Use empty string for deletion: /replace:"" /replace:"new server name"
/casesensitive Enable case-sensitive matching. Default: case-insensitive. /casesensitive
/wholeword Match whole words only (do not match partial words). /wholeword
/wildcards Enable Word wildcard pattern matching in the find text. Uses Word's built-in wildcard syntax. /wildcards
/findlist:<file> Path to a tab-delimited file with find/replace pairs (one pair per line: find[TAB]replace). /findlist:"C:\replacements.txt"
/scope:<area> Limit search scope. Values: all, body, headers, footers, comments, footnotes, textboxes. Default: all /scope:body
/matchformat Match formatting attributes (bold, italic, font) in addition to text. /matchformat

Output Parameters

Parameter Description Example
/inplace Modify files in place (overwrite originals). Cannot be combined with /outputfolder. /inplace
/outputfolder:<path> Write modified files to this folder, preserving original files. Folder is created if it does not exist. /outputfolder:"C:\Output"
/backup Create a .bak backup of each file before modification. Only applies with /inplace. /backup
/log:<file> Write processing log to specified file. Logs each file processed and replacements made. /log:"C:\Logs\wordpipe.log"
/summary Display a summary of total files processed and replacements made after completion. /summary

Advanced Parameters

Parameter Description Example
/silent Suppress all dialog boxes and UI prompts. Essential for unattended/scheduled operation. /silent
/noword Process documents without launching Microsoft Word (uses internal engine). Faster but supports fewer formatting features. /noword
/timeout:<seconds> Maximum time in seconds to process a single file before skipping it. Default: 300 (5 minutes). /timeout:120
/retries:<count> Number of retry attempts for locked files. Default: 0. /retries:3
/password:<pass> Password to open protected documents. /password:"secret123"
/hyperlinks Also find and replace within hyperlink URLs and display text. /hyperlinks
/properties Also find and replace within document properties (Title, Subject, Author, etc.). /properties

Complete Examples

Simple Find and Replace

Replace a company name across all Word documents in a folder:

WordPipe.exe /input:"C:\Documents\Legal" /subfolders /inputmask:"*.docx" /find:"Acme Corp" /replace:"NewCo Industries" /inplace /backup /silent /summary

Server Migration (Update Hyperlinks)

Update all hyperlinks pointing to the old server across an entire document library:

WordPipe.exe /input:"\\fileserver\shared\Documents" /subfolders /inputmask:"*.doc;*.docx" /find:"http://oldserver.company.com" /replace:"https://newserver.company.com" /hyperlinks /inplace /silent /log:"C:\Logs\migration.log"

Bulk Replacements from a List

Perform multiple find-and-replace operations using a tab-delimited list file:

WordPipe.exe /input:"C:\Reports" /subfolders /findlist:"C:\wordlists\rebrand_terms.txt" /outputfolder:"C:\Reports_Updated" /silent /summary /log:"C:\Logs\rebrand.log"

Example rebrand_terms.txt (tab-delimited):

Old Company Name	New Company Name
www.oldsite.com	www.newsite.com
support@oldsite.com	help@newsite.com
+1-555-0100	+1-555-0200

Scheduled Batch Processing

Batch file for use with Windows Task Scheduler:

@echo off
REM WordPipe scheduled compliance update
REM Run nightly to update QMS documents with latest revision

set LOGFILE=C:\Logs\wordpipe_%date:~-4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%.log

"C:\Program Files\DataMystic\WordPipe\WordPipe.exe" ^
  /input:"D:\QMS\Controlled_Documents" ^
  /subfolders ^
  /inputmask:"*.docx;*.doc" ^
  /find:"Rev 4.2" ^
  /replace:"Rev 4.3" ^
  /wholeword ^
  /inplace ^
  /backup ^
  /silent ^
  /log:"%LOGFILE%" ^
  /summary

if %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 (
    echo ERROR: WordPipe failed with code %ERRORLEVEL% >> "%LOGFILE%"
)

echo Processing complete. See %LOGFILE% for details.

Exit Codes

Code Meaning
0 Success — all files processed without errors.
1 Partial success — some files were processed, but one or more files failed.
2 No files found — no matching files were found in the input path.
3 Invalid parameters — one or more command-line parameters were invalid.
4 License error — WordPipe is not licensed or the trial has expired.
5 Fatal error — an unexpected error occurred. Check the log file for details.