Is there an easy way to edit all links in an org file?

Question

I have an org file with several dozen links to various webpages. I'd like to view and edit most of the urls in this file. Is there a convenient way to do this?

In other words, does org-mode have a feature that allows me to view and edit all the links in my document in one place?

Answer 1

It's all plain text, so just use a normal search-and-replace.

If org-mode manages to suppress that somehow, just temporarily change the major mode. e.g. M-x fundamental-mode

Edit:

Actually, assuming you're on Emacs 24.1+, occur-edit-mode will be a nice way to do that, as you'll see the plain text link syntax in the occur buffer, and only the lines you're interested in.

• M-so <regexp> RET (for whatever pattern matches the links you want to edit)
• Switch to the *Occur* buffer.
• e (enter occur-edit-mode)
• Do any editing you need to do. Search and replace, etc. (n.b. You'll need to move point down off the first line of the occur buffer.)
• C-cC-c (confirm the changes and exit occur-edit-mode)
• Return to and save the original buffer.

Edit 2:

If you aren't picky about which links you're searching for, you could run a command like this:

(defun my-org-links-occur ()
  "Run `occur' for all `org-mode' links in the current buffer."
  (interactive)
  (occur org-any-link-re))