5 Best Alternatives To The Famous Windows Notepad

Whether to display text files or drafting, a text editor is a tool that can never be lacking in our operating system and in our workplaces. There are many types, each focused on one thing. For example, tools such as Microsoft Word, ie, word processors, go a step beyond mere editing and formatting text allow us to finish with a good presentation and layout.

For other tasks such as development and programming code may not need a tool to change the appearance, but the formatting and layout issues are again important. Not the same code with relevant tabs one that has been written on the same level, and no line breaks. Okay, depending on the case, the compiler of the day means the code, but we will be more difficult to follow and if we share it gets tricky. So there IDEs and development environments designed to provide the user a good experience and make available the right tools for the proper development and maintenance of the code, although in most cases these environments are too heavy for the system and affect operation of the aircraft, not to mention that these programs are not portable so we can bring our USB key.

There are many more examples where we need a tool than a word processor, not an IDE yet that is not a simple editor like the famous Windows Notepad. So today I present 5 alternatives to the famous geek pad, utilities that you can use a simple or advanced, depending on your needs. It is also useful for programmers and developers.

1. Notepad++

It is my particular favorite. Notepad++ is an editor that takes its name from the classic notebook Windows and adds the ++, in reference not only to the programming language C++ but it gives us much more than the program in which it is based. The editor is visually identical to the notebook, but this time we have a toolbar full of useful and also can be configured through the options screens. Furthermore, the menu has many items sorted into various categories to access different functions. A comparison of documents, dictionary-based spell checking, multiple clipboard or the possibility of doing a search and replace in all open documents that we are some of its features.

Although perhaps most interesting is its utility to work with various programming languages​​, which is why I’ve included in this list. Notepad++ syntax allows us to select the document you are working, what keywords will be highlighted in the document and code groups are automatically grouped. The list of languages ​​includes all the popular languages, plus other lesser known but also have their niche here. C, C++, C #, Python or Java are of course present. The thing is not there and also offers a GUI to autocomplete our sentences, we will help with regular expressions and give us the ability to edit multiple documents in split screen to scroll automatically, ideal for debugging your code.

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2. Programmer’s Notepad

This is another program aimed at developers, and a favorite of seasoned programmers, because it takes more than a decade on the market. Fully open source, Programmer’s Notepad has support for regular expressions, highlighting text and formatting the same as language conversion between different formats, advanced search options and grouping of content blocks or sectors.

Only available for Windows, and ultimately interesting innovations have been incorporated as new conversion features, the implementation of so-called virtual space and the creation of configuration schemes, apart from the correction of some bugs and also adding new languages.

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3. XEmacs

It is, perhaps, the editor-platform with versions for Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD – more powerful and customizable we can find. Based on the famous GNU Emacs, you can download the source code and adapt it to our needs if necessary, although currently there is practically no function that does not hold.

Among these are that highlight their words and commands to format an entire paragraph, with the option of moving, deleting or changing rapidly, the syntax highlighting for a long list of languages ​​or the ability to create macros, groups of operations that can be programmed to execute when we wish.

Its use is more complicated than the rest of the editors we’ve seen, and the options are less intuitive, but it remains a text editor in which you can work on documents, and when the time comes to seek any settings, find (sure it is) and learn to use the documentation by visiting the website or by contacting the large community that uses the application.

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4. EditPlus

Another text editor, this time with license shareware, which was released in late 90′s and still receives regular checkups. The latest, in August this year, including the ability to perform drag and drop, save sessions and even save documents bookmarks, create macros and the ability to use auto operations when we are editing a specific file.

It is on this list because despite not being the most complete of all, offers a high range of features and the learning curve is actually slightly marked: the functions are intuitive and simple to configure. Also includes tools for usability as the option to launch files in your favorite web browser, if you’re editing an HTML web archive, or search the same as code snippets grouped.

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5. Ultra Edit

Finally, could not fail to mention Ultra Edit, although it is a text editor and owner’s license is worth money. I mention this because it also has long been on the market and probably sounds to you all. If I had to highlight just one of its functions, it might be the search that includes multiple options and make it very useful for the occasion. In fact, also related to the search, include UltraCompare tool that helps us to compare documents and look for differences between them, either content or coding.

It is available for all 3 major operating systems, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, although as I have told it is non-free software, if you can download a demo that will be functional for 30 or 45 days.

This article is written by Asher ross. She is an Expert technical writer from UK with expertise in writing articles over Dedicated Server UK Mac OS, Apple, Mobile and UK Web hosting server technology. If you wish to write for us, kindly check this.