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Recommended Text Editors for Win32?
Dave asks: "I must us a Windows machine at work where I do web development and system administration. I have been looking for a "decent" editor to use on Windows, but thus far have come up short. GVim doesn't do it for me, on linux it's fine, but on Windows it isn't the most stable thing around. I've also tried Windows versions of MicroEmacs and Vile. What do other Slashdot users develop in when they must use a Windows machine?"
This Ask Slashdot sounds to me like trolling against gvim. I use it extensively (didn't even bother with trying any emacs-life stuff for Win) under both WinMe and WinXP and it has never crashed on me and I even like it more than the Linux version. I use it for xml and java and html and a few other things. Never had any problem.
I love this editor.
Adds itself to the context menu in explorer so you can open anything in it.
Supports huge files.
Color codes C++, Java, etc.
Handles indenting and word-wrap well.
Has an 'always on top' feature.
Easy to asign file associations from the UI.
http://www.textpad.com
A speech...
honestly this is not a troll
but on windows use something that is designed for windows and not ported as an afterthought.
when i have to use a pc to edit (i mainly use bbedit on os x, which is by far and large the best editor i have EVER used) i use textedit
yeah, it's shareware, but it's not disabled in anyway and the only shareware part is that once in a thousand saves you get a dialogue that says "register or not" and the not button isn't time delayed or any of that crap, you click "not now" and it shuts up like a good piece of software.
At work we have standardized on Jedit http://www.jedit.org . Good syntax coloring. Lots of plugins: cvs , regex testing , and ton of others. A good macro language.
Oh really?
"...What do other Slashdot users develop in when they must use a Windows machine?"
First I develop a migrane, then I use lots of tequila. Works every time.
*comf*
Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
WWW.ULTRAEDIT.COM
Check out http://www.editplus.com/
By far the best text editor I have ever used. All of my development is done in this editor, since I have yet to find anything comparable in either BeOS or *BSD. It has syntax highlighting for virtually everything, and if it doesn't have what you want, you can add it very easily. And you can run arbitrary commands straight from the editor, such as compiling.
You want it, this thing has it.
The only drawback for all those free software nuts, it's shareware - free until you pay for it. But well worth the money, if you believe in that kind of thing.
If I was worried about Karma, I'd eat tofu.
very powerful, c-style macros, record keystrokes, language-specific settings/formattings, all the power of emacs but with a friendly (yet not dumbed-down) interface.
will interface with command-line compilers, also integrates with many IDEs to be the source editor, and respond to the IDE commands etc.
Big Daddy, Johnny, Burp, Aunt Zelda, Scott, Slurp, Big Momma
My absolute favorite programming IDE ever was Borland Turbo Pascal 7.0; therefore, I'm a sucker for any editor written in TurboVision, like RHIDE or SetEdit.
DOS Edit is still pretty decent in the console; on the GUI side, NoteTab is a notepad replacement on steroids (the "Light" version is free).
If you download Cygwin, you can compile almost any UNIX-y text editor you want, including my favorite--nano.
And if all else fails, Ask Google!
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
I use PFE, the Programmer's File Editor. It doesn't even have syntax highlighting, but it's light, fast, very configurable and the macro function rocks (Shift + F7, Do some stuff with Ctrl+Cursor or whatever you want, Ctrl + F7, repeat with F7).
Regrettably it's out of development, though there still is a bug that sometimes occures: when editing, lines disappear and you should not save the file if that happens. But it does not happen very often.
The Mode feature is not very intuitive, but once you figured out how it works, it allows you to switch things like line-indenting, wrapping, etc. based on the file type you are editing.
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/people/cpaap/pfe/
I don't use other editors because of the time to get used to them... and because of basic stuff like Ctrl+Cursor, where PFE stopps at far more characters than whitespace only. I need this a lot and most other editors don't do this.
For anything web related (HTML, CSS, PHP) I use HomeSite. It works. Great editor, nice syntax highlighting, lots of nice features. I haven't found anything even remotely comparable for Linux, unfortunately. For C/C++, C++Builder is excellent. The syntax highlighting works well and the editor is amazingly fast. Works on files of literally any size with no slowdowns.
As an emacs user, I feel obliged to point out that xemacs is available for windows, and works quite well. It runs natively under windows, so you don't need to deal with cygwin or any of that (unless you want to, they do have a cygwin version available). And if you're a vi person, you can always run emacs in vi mode.
There's no sig like SIGSEG
I love UltraEdit.
The hex editing mode is really nice, as is integration into the shell (right click on any file to edit it, text or binary!)
UltraEdit Does a good job of syntax highlighting, and it has lots of options. It supports large files, is very fast, and not too heavy when it comes to resources.
I prefer ContTEXT.
It's a great editor for my needs. I do php, perl, html, c/c++, and Java in it. It has a modular syntax hilighter so you can create your own hilighting schemes and/or download existing ones. I also has syntax hilighting for my apache conf files.
It also has auto indenting, soft/hard tabs, programmable buttons/shorcuts based on file type. I set up one button for compiling, one for running, one for formatting, etc..
It supports CRLF, LF, and CR based text files so it works with every platform, and you can switch modes whenever you want.
I also enjoy the tabbed MDI setup, it works really well for me.
At least give this one a try, the worst that could happen is you don't like it ;-)
~higman
-- [insert sig here]
I'm a big fan of Code-Genie... customizable syntax highlighting and whatnot, quite nice.
One editor to rule them all, one editor to find them...
TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
unstable? never had it crash on me and i do most of my web develop ment with it. if im not telneted into my box from a remote site working on it..
ive never had a problem with Gvim on windows 2k. perhaps its the OS. or need a newer version of Gvim.
It comes with syntax highlighting for HTML, CSS, PHP, ASP, Perl, C/C++, Java, JavaScript and VBScript, plus you can get user-created "STX" files for many other languages, or write your own. Each token color can be easily configured from a pallete selection dialog.
My favorite feature though is the built in FTP (File Open/Save/Save As) system, which makes opening a file on a remote FTP server as seamless as opening a file on your local machine.
Here's a few other features which I felt seemed noteworthy:
Sorry, I guess I got carried away :) I really like this program though, and I've been using it for about three or four years now. It's probably the only program I've ever registered within 15 minutes of downloading :)
I don't like the default colors and font that come with it. I prefer dark backgrounds, so I always set the background to black, then let the lumance level of all the default syntax highlighting colors to "200". I also don't like the default variable-width font, as I prefer mono-spaced fonts, but I don't like Courier, so I set it to the windows "FixedSys" font. Once I've made these adjustments, EditPlus looks more like a UNIX terminal than a Visual* editor.
On the occasions I've considered switching to Linux, EditPlus is probably one of the few things holding me back from doing so.
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
http://www.textpad.com. Cheap, powerful, fast, & very stable.
xemacs. Version 21.4.6. Available as windows InstallShield. Editor of the gods.
Bow
Bow
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
Easy to use (menus and buttons until you learn the keystrokes).
The Installshield installer the folks at www.xemacs.org provide gives you a very capable editor without any painful configuration. Default editing modes are pre-bound to most common file formats.
- Superb source code browser. The main reason why I bought Slickedit.
- Runs on most OS'es including Linux and OS/390(!).
- C-like macro-language
- The people at Slickedit are very responsive if you're having trouble. This includes support as well as sales.
Cons:- It costs money. A single user license is $299 in USA and Canada, $329 everywhere else.
- No Mac version.
See more at www.slickedit.com.Disclaimer: I use Slickedit eight hours a day but am in no other way affiliated with the company.
My opinion? See above.
jEdit (available here) is available anywhere there's a reasonably recent Java2 runtime. On Windows with J2SDK1.4, I've noticed that it takes a fair bit of time to load up, but once loaded it's acceptably snappy--it's never going to win points for speed, but it manages to not be noticeably and/or annoyingly slow, which is good.
It has bindings for something like 50 different languages, from Ada to SQL and every-other-thing in between. I have been exceptionally pleased with jEdit so far, at least on Win32. On UNIX, jEdit is a little slower, to the point where it enters noticeably and annoyingly slow, but it's still a defensible choice.
If you do a lot of crossplatform work (I do) and want to keep your basic work environment the same in both environments, you can do an awful lot worse than jEdit.
As an added bonus you can tell yourself you are using a descendent of the very editor that was used by the actual developers of the early versions of NT!
- adam
UltraEdit32 does it for me.
Support for HUGE files, thousands of files open simultaneously, regex search & replace, interactive function listing, syntax highlighting, split window with synchronized scrolling, search & replace in multiple files (with regexes), find in multiple files (like grep), htmltidy built-in, column editing mode, converts to and from dos, mac and unix line endings, hex editing mode, and lots and lots of other stuff.
definately worth a look.
jeremiah
Mentioned twice before but I figured I'd add my bit:
1. Regular expression "replace" - very useful
2. opens (very) large files quickly
3. I actually paid the shareware fee - for those that know me that should say something...
4. Hex mode
Also, not a text editor but a very usefull addition to your toolset is "EasyDiff" and "EasyDiff Pro", which is a powerhouse of text and file system comparisons.
CySurflex
(G)VIM is still the best generic editor by far in my opinion. It can edit huge files (I've corrected codec tags in 700Mb AVIs), it's fast, and it integrates quite well in the windows environment. And it's (totally) free.
Well, that depends on the type of editing you do. If it's coding, then VIM is the best - if not, then it's a toss-up.
Its syntax hilighting, code-folding and command-based editing modes make it ideal... and once you press 'i' and have the backspace=2 option set, it's basically the same as textpad32/notepad/ultraedit.
PS: VIM is NOT vi! vi was written for a different era. I prefer Emacs over vi, but not over VIM.
Also, I do prefer the native IDEs when I code in Delphi, Visual C++, Python (here I use Boa-constructor instead of (g)VIM)
... it's the best programming editor which ever came under my fingers in 35 years.
I find also extremely useful the ability of Emacs (thanks to Ange-FTP) to edit files remotely: is is just as simple as opening ``/username@host:/remote/file/name'', and everything (dired and completion included) just works as if it was on a local filesystem, so I don't even have to move from my workstation...
OTOH, for those who like having everyting and the sink but don't feel comfortable with Emacs, I'd say that JEdit is surely the best choice for them: it is completely scriptable using BeanShell, a Java-like scripting language, and has lots and lots of plugins for additional functionalities.
I've been using gvim for at least 5 years on windows (NT, 2k, XP) and never had _one_ crash.
If you don't like the *vi type editors, Xemacs or Gnu emacs work flawlessly on win32 as well. Xemacs is a lot easier to set up (e.g.: getting the Java development environment JDE working), but perhaps you want to use Gnu emacs for political reasons...
If you want something more windows-centric NOTEPAD.EXE has always been pretty reliable, if a bit slow on large files.
"But actually trying to use m4 as a general-purpose langage would be deeply perverse" --ESR
It's a good port; it has a proper installer, a native Win32 GUI, and it's fast.
If it's unstable for you, try submitting a bug report; it's been rock solid for me since the early 6.0 beta's.
What build did you get? I've stuck with a perfectly good 6.1 beta, but I've heard of some specific builds being dodgy. ATM it's at about patchlevel 90 past release, and I'm sure Bram and co will be very happy to look into any problems you have. Seriously; it should be solid as a rock even in Windows.
Joe's Own Editor:
http://mitglied.lycos.de/tygs/bsd/editor.php
Either in a PuTTY ssh session to my OpenBSD server,
or natively compiled - for example, with the free
Borland C++ 5.5 Command Line compilers.
My Karma isn't excellent, damn it! (And
When I first came on board, I had to learn Cold Fusion. The tools that we use for it are Dreamweaver(evil, evil) and Cold Fusion studio. CF Studio is just incredible, allowing coding and syntax highlighting in not just CF, but ASP, Perl, PHP and others. It can be extended using custom tags, and I love the keyboard shortcuts and custom shortcuts (click a button and it will surround whatever you have highlighted with whatever you want). While you can download a 30-day trial from Macromedia for free, the application itself costs money. But after trying homesite, GoLive, TextPad, Notepad and all the others, I love it.
Random Musings
BAH! You kids and your fancy editors.
In my day we used edlin AND WE LIKED IT!
Beta sux! Join the Slashcott! http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4760465&cid=46173047
I use notepad. Lots of people do. But, the reason may not be what you think it is.
So many people use Notepad for the same reason that so many people use Vi. The simple reason is that you can find it on *every* system. If you work in a Windows shop you will likely be working on other machines than your own. These other machines will not have your favorite "SlickEditor" but, they will have Notepad. Regardless of whether the machine is 95/98/NT/2000/XP notepad will be there. The same holds true with Vi. If you work in a *nix environment, you can be assured that whatever machine you use will have Vi. They may or may not have GEdit or Kwrite or even Emacs but, Vi wil be there.
Of course, if you use only Notepad and then go to a *nix system, you'll have a hell of a time with Vi.
Real men only use Edlin.
If you can stand the resource usage (and really, if you are used to Emacs, you have absolutely no excuse :p), try jEdit (www.jedit.org). It is an editor written in Java, and it is excellent. It is extensible with plugins, and is scriptable (but you don't have to use/see any of this if you don't want). It has powerful syntax highlighting, abbreviation/auto expansion, built in file browser, integration with Ant, etc.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
If its honest to goodness Word processing, I'll use Microsoft Word 97. (No, I'll NEVER upgrade)
If it's a program, that's why Delphi 5.0 exists.
If I need really tricky manipulation, I'll write a program to do it.
--Mike--
In addition to XEmacs as others have mentioned, you can also get an Emacs for Window straight from the Gnu's mouth.
c s. html
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntema
The binary install is a zip file, which you unzip and then add the bin directory to your path.
Also, I highly recommend adding your favorite text editor to Windows Explorer's "Send To" menu, by creating a shortcut in the Send To directory in your Profile directory. This way you can edit files that are associated with other apps without needed to break the file associations.
I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
Pussy. I always used copy con and got it right the first time. :)
What'dya mean there's no BLINK tag!?
metapad is my notepad replacement. Small, fast, keyboard shortcuts for save, search, etc, unlimited file sizes. Free as in beer. Excellent.
I use and recommend OmlettePad EX, because I wrote it myself.
Think of all the things your current editor does that are really cool, and chances are, OmlettePad EX doesn't have them.
[o]_O
NT Emacs is awesome. I use it on my windows boxes, and aside from some unix-ish features like command-prompt interaction, it is quite stable and mature. It even has decent integration with the shell, letting you (for instance) drag files into the emacs window to be opened.
I don't know what killer features gvim has that you use, but I assure you they're all there.
TkNotePad is something I wrote and it is just a basic text editor like notpad, but it has unlimited undo / redo and a better find / replace.
Only 'flamers' flame!
http://www.emsps.com/oldtools/borland.htm
Ware your brief!
*shudder*
now i remember why i thought vi was so easy to learn.
WinVi is awesome. I use it for all my Windoze platform programming needs.
Having both Windows and Vi commands is a terrific feature, especially you switch platforms frequently. It always takes me a little while to re-adjust, and having both options available simultaneously is fantastic.
And it's free, in many important senses of the word.
I can spell. I just can't type.
www.vim.org
I can't believe peoples recommend emacs ! (humor impaired -> this is a joke)
:wq
For the bigger project stuff it's either JEdit or XEmacs. Both are stable, cross platform and loaded with features. I'm still trying to decide which one I like best. ;-)
Well there's a great list of editors on PHP.net at http://213.155.159.67/phpeditors/index.php that you might find helpful. The list gives the webpage, platform, license, and reader comments for each one.
As a web developer who is almost always using Windows, lately I've used Homesite (costs a bunch), 1st Page 2000 (just like Homesite but free) and Crimson Editor. They all work fine for anything I've needed to do.
Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
...and it's written in Java, so you can get used to one nice graphical editor for all your java-capable os's.
http://www.jedit.org/
I don't mind copy con once in a while, but most always I much prefer browse to type. You cna probably find a copy on an old mouse driver disk.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
macromedia are still offering a standalone version of Homesite (version 5) but they probably won't for long.
The official upgrade to Homesite 5 is Dreamweaver which has an editor bundled with it that is very similar to Homesite. Of course Dreamweaver is a lot more expensive than Homesite alone.
my blog: good times, man, good times
JOE does not have a Windows version. Anyone know of a Windows editor that uses Borland/Wordstar/Control-Key editing commands?
I use Jedit as well and it is really good.
Anyone know of a Windows editor that uses Borland/Wordstar/Control-Key editing commands?
That shortcut key layout saves about 15% in editing time, because you do not need to remove your hands from the home row of keys.
That shortcut system is intuitive, also, because it uses a "cursor diamond". Control-E is line up (top of the diamond). Control-X is line down (bottom of the diamond), Control-S is character forward, and so on. (The arrow keys also work.)
Programs that use the control key in this way are meant to be used with a utility that makes the caps lock key a control key. Sysinternals provides Ctrl2cap, for example. The utility is run once only.
The Borland/Wordstar editing commands allow almost all operations without removing your hands from the home row. Many commands are two keystrokes. Control-Q Control-R goes to the top of the document, for example.
SetEdit is an example of a DOS editor with these commands. I would like to find a Windows editor.
in my opinion.
It's FAST, VERY light (my executable is 150K), full with features, configurable pretty much for everything, contains a macro language that lets you create new commands, and has EVERYTHING without becoming bloated.
The only downside is that it's a commercial non-free program. But it's worth every single penny, I say.
Go to Semware, and download the trial version. I can't speak for others, but I love it a lot. When using Windows*, TSE-Pro and 4DOS/4NT are the two programs I use most.
By the way: Notepad is HIDEOUS. It might be standard, yes, but it's so primitive it becomes heavily restrictive. I carry around with me a diskette with my personal vital tools, text editor included, so I can skip the pain of using notepad on other people's computers.
"Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
- Sledge Hammer
Yes, thanks, but Cygwin is maybe 300 Megabytes. Yes, I need it anyway, but my customers don't, and I'm wondering if there are Windows native editors.
It's very Emacs-like and highly configurable. On Windows, it has some nice integration features and I've used it since about '92 when writing code on Windows.
One of the features is that it supports Brief-style keyboard bindings, in addition to the default Emacs bindings.
You get binaries for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2 & DOS for one price.
You can get more info and a demo at Lugaru's website.
* As is generally the case, my opinions do not reflect those of my employer.
PDP-11/20s??? That's one of them new-fangled transistorized computers.
We had vacuum tubes and punch cards. With enough punch cards, you don't NEED memory.
Punchcards are nothing more than line replaceable PROM!
Believe it or not, I bought 2 cases of punchcards last year - makes great geeky notepaper and bookmarks
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
Arachnophilia 4.0 is my first choice.
www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/
The older version 4.0, the newer version 5.+ is java based and doesn't seem to work as well.
I understand the Author's reason for going to java, but the new version can flake out at the worst times.
Arachnophilia isn't open source, but a modified version of freeware called careware.
More like the other way around, but ok.
You're working with web development... I like to use HomeSite or the free HTML-Kit.
Will work for bandwidth