How to replace a region in emacs with yank buffer contents?

Question

When I use VIM or most modeless editors (Eclipse, NetBeans etc.) I frequently do the following. If I have similar text blocks and I need to change them all, I will change on

Answer 1

Use delete-selection-mode, so that pasted text replaces the active region.

Use the secondary selection, to paste the same text over and over, even if you alternately select a new region to replace.

See http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/SecondarySelection.