diff --git a/doc/languages-frameworks/emscripten.section.md b/doc/languages-frameworks/emscripten.section.md
index 20d358f2e9e3..9ce48db2c2de 100644
--- a/doc/languages-frameworks/emscripten.section.md
+++ b/doc/languages-frameworks/emscripten.section.md
@@ -86,9 +86,9 @@ One advantage is that when `pkgs.zlib` is updated, it will automatically update
 
   postPatch = pkgs.lib.optionalString pkgs.stdenv.isDarwin ''
     substituteInPlace configure \
-      --replace '/usr/bin/libtool' 'ar' \
-      --replace 'AR="libtool"' 'AR="ar"' \
-      --replace 'ARFLAGS="-o"' 'ARFLAGS="-r"'
+      --replace-fail '/usr/bin/libtool' 'ar' \
+      --replace-fail 'AR="libtool"' 'AR="ar"' \
+      --replace-fail 'ARFLAGS="-o"' 'ARFLAGS="-r"'
   '';
 })
 ```
diff --git a/doc/languages-frameworks/rust.section.md b/doc/languages-frameworks/rust.section.md
index d18b048b911b..6ba2463e150e 100644
--- a/doc/languages-frameworks/rust.section.md
+++ b/doc/languages-frameworks/rust.section.md
@@ -700,7 +700,7 @@ with import <nixpkgs> {};
     hello = attrs: lib.optionalAttrs (lib.versionAtLeast attrs.version "1.0")  {
       postPatch = ''
         substituteInPlace lib/zoneinfo.rs \
-          --replace "/usr/share/zoneinfo" "${tzdata}/share/zoneinfo"
+          --replace-fail "/usr/share/zoneinfo" "${tzdata}/share/zoneinfo"
       '';
     };
   };
diff --git a/doc/stdenv/platform-notes.chapter.md b/doc/stdenv/platform-notes.chapter.md
index b47f5af349b8..409c9f2e7b2e 100644
--- a/doc/stdenv/platform-notes.chapter.md
+++ b/doc/stdenv/platform-notes.chapter.md
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ Some common issues when packaging software for Darwin:
     # ...
     prePatch = ''
       substituteInPlace Makefile \
-          --replace '/usr/bin/xcrun clang' clang
+          --replace-fail '/usr/bin/xcrun clang' clang
     '';
   }
   ```
diff --git a/doc/stdenv/stdenv.chapter.md b/doc/stdenv/stdenv.chapter.md
index 03bb8a9ff790..7f62af5997b5 100644
--- a/doc/stdenv/stdenv.chapter.md
+++ b/doc/stdenv/stdenv.chapter.md
@@ -230,9 +230,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   postInstall = ''
     substituteInPlace $out/bin/solo5-virtio-mkimage \
-      --replace "/usr/lib/syslinux" "${syslinux}/share/syslinux" \
-      --replace "/usr/share/syslinux" "${syslinux}/share/syslinux" \
-      --replace "cp " "cp --no-preserve=mode "
+      --replace-fail "/usr/lib/syslinux" "${syslinux}/share/syslinux" \
+      --replace-fail "/usr/share/syslinux" "${syslinux}/share/syslinux" \
+      --replace-fail "cp " "cp --no-preserve=mode "
 
     wrapProgram $out/bin/solo5-virtio-mkimage \
       --prefix PATH : ${lib.makeBinPath [ dosfstools mtools parted syslinux ]}
@@ -1217,9 +1217,20 @@ postInstall = ''
 
 Performs string substitution on the contents of \<infile\>, writing the result to \<outfile\>. The substitutions in \<subs\> are of the following form:
 
-#### `--replace` \<s1\> \<s2\> {#fun-substitute-replace}
+#### `--replace-fail` \<s1\> \<s2\> {#fun-substitute-replace-fail}
 
 Replace every occurrence of the string \<s1\> by \<s2\>.
+Will error if no change is made.
+
+#### `--replace-warn` \<s1\> \<s2\> {#fun-substitute-replace-warn}
+
+Replace every occurrence of the string \<s1\> by \<s2\>.
+Will print a warning if no change is made.
+
+#### `--replace-quiet` \<s1\> \<s2\> {#fun-substitute-replace-quiet}
+
+Replace every occurrence of the string \<s1\> by \<s2\>.
+Will do nothing if no change can be made.
 
 #### `--subst-var` \<varName\> {#fun-substitute-subst-var}
 
@@ -1233,8 +1244,8 @@ Example:
 
 ```shell
 substitute ./foo.in ./foo.out \
-    --replace /usr/bin/bar $bar/bin/bar \
-    --replace "a string containing spaces" "some other text" \
+    --replace-fail /usr/bin/bar $bar/bin/bar \
+    --replace-fail "a string containing spaces" "some other text" \
     --subst-var someVar
 ```
 
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
index b671d82b1597..87af0bfc93a3 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
@@ -815,15 +815,18 @@ fi
 ######################################################################
 # Textual substitution functions.
 
-
 substituteStream() {
     local var=$1
     local description=$2
     shift 2
 
     while (( "$#" )); do
+        local replace_mode="$1"
         case "$1" in
             --replace)
+                replace_mode='--replace-warn'
+                ;&
+            --replace-quiet|--replace-warn|--replace-fail)
                 pattern="$2"
                 replacement="$3"
                 shift 3
@@ -832,7 +835,12 @@ substituteStream() {
                 eval "$var"'=${'"$var"'//"$pattern"/"$replacement"}'
                 if [ "$pattern" != "$replacement" ]; then
                     if [ "${!var}" == "$savedvar" ]; then
-                        echo "substituteStream(): WARNING: pattern '$pattern' doesn't match anything in $description" >&2
+                        if [ "$replace_mode" == --replace-warn ]; then
+                            printf "substituteStream(): WARNING: pattern %q doesn't match anything in %s\n" "$pattern" "$description" >&2
+                        elif [ "$replace_mode" == --replace-fail ]; then
+                            printf "substituteStream(): ERROR: pattern %q doesn't match anything in %s\n" "$pattern" "$description" >&2
+                            return 1
+                        fi
                     fi
                 fi
                 ;;