Comparison of text editors

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article provides basic comparisons for notable text editors. More feature details for text editors are available from the Category of text editor features and from the individual products' articles. This article may not be up-to-date or necessarily all-inclusive.

Feature comparisons are made between stable versions of software, not the upcoming versions or beta releases – and are exclusive of any add-ons, extensions or external programs (unless specified in footnotes).

Overview[edit]

List of text editors
Name Developer Initial release Latest release Program­ming language Cost (US$) License GUI TUI or CLI
Version Date
Acme Rob Pike 1993 Plan 9 and Inferno C No cost MIT
GPL-2.0-only
LPL-1.02
Yes No
AkelPad Alexey Kuznetsov
Alexander Shengalts
2003 C No cost BSD-2-Clause Yes No
Alphatk Vince Darley 1999 8.3.3[1] Edit this on Wikidata 2004-12-10 $40 Proprietary, with BSD components Yes No
Atom GitHub 2014 1.60.0[2] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-03-08 HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++ No cost MIT Yes No
BBEdit Rich Siegel 1992 15.0[3] Edit this on Wikidata 2024-01-09 Objective-C, Objective-C++ No cost for most features, $49.99 for full version Proprietary Yes No
Bluefish Bluefish Development Team 1999 2.2.14[4] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-06-03 C No cost GPL-3.0-or-later Yes No
Brackets Adobe Systems 2012 2.1.3[5] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-10-31 HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++ No cost MIT Yes No
Coda Panic 2007 2.7.7[6] Edit this on Wikidata 2020-11-05 Objective-C $99 Proprietary Yes
ConTEXT ConTEXT Project Ltd 1999 Object Pascal (Delphi) No cost BSD-3-Clause Yes
Crimson Editor Ingyu Kang 1999 3.72-r286m[7] Edit this on Wikidata 2011-10-01 C++ No cost Proprietary Yes
CudaText UVViewSoft[a] 2015 1.200.0[8] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-10-02 Object Pascal (Lazarus) No cost MPL-2.0 Yes No
ed Ken Thompson 1970 unchanged from original C No cost ? No Yes
Editra Cody Precord 2007 0.7.20 2013-01-05 Python No cost wxWindows license Yes No
EmEditor Emurasoft, Inc. 1997 21.3.0 2021-11-24 C++ $39.99 Shareware Yes No
epsilon Lugaru Software 1984 14.00[9] 2020-10-20 C $250 Proprietary
FeatherPad Pedram Pourang 2016 1.4.1[10] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-06-12 C++, Qt No cost GPL-3.0-or-later Yes No
gedit GNU Project 2000 46.1[11] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-08-01 C No cost GPL-2.0-or-later Yes No
Geany Enrico Tröger 2005 1.37.1[12] Edit this on Wikidata 2020-11-08 C, GTK+ No cost GPL-2.0-or-later Yes No
GNU Emacs Richard Stallman 1984 29.2[13] Edit this on Wikidata 2024-01-18 C, Emacs Lisp No cost GPL-3.0-or-later Yes Yes
GNU nano Chris Allegretta 1999 7.2[14] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-01-18 C No cost GPL-3.0-or-later No Yes
IA Writer Information Architects 2010.09.22 5.6 2020-12-07 Objective-C (iOS), Objective-C (macOS), C# (Windows), Java (Android) $29.99 Proprietary Yes No
JED John E. Davis 1992 0.99-19 Edit this on Wikidata 2009-12-13 C, S-Lang No cost GPL-2.0-or-later No Yes
jEdit Slava Pestov 1998 5.6.0[15] Edit this on Wikidata 2020-09-03 Java No cost GPL-2.0-or-later Yes No
JOE Joseph Allen 1988 C No cost GPL No Yes
JOVE Johnathon Payne 1983 C No cost JOVE license No Yes
Kate KDE Project 2000-12 R14.1.1[16] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-11-20 C++ No cost GPL Yes No
KEDIT Mansfield Software Group, Inc. 1983 1.6.1 2016-12-05 C $129 Proprietary No Yes
Komodo Edit Activestate 2007 12.0.1[17] Edit this on Wikidata 2020-02-10 Python, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl, PHP, Ruby No cost MPL, GPL, LGPL Yes No
Komodo IDE Activestate 2001 Python, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl, PHP, Ruby $295 Proprietary Yes No
KWrite KDE Project 2000 24.02[18] Edit this on Wikidata 2024-02-28 C++ No cost GPL Yes No
LE Alexander V. Lukyanov 1997 1.16.8[19] Edit this on Wikidata 2021-02-05 C++ No cost GPL-3.0-or-later No Yes
Leo Edward K. Ream 1996 6.7.6[20] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-12-19 Python No cost MIT Yes No
Light Table Chris Granger 2012 0.8.1[21] Edit this on Wikidata 2016-01-22 ClojureScript No cost MIT Yes No
mcedit Miguel de Icaza 1994 4.8.31[22] Edit this on Wikidata 2024-01-27 C, Python, PHP, Javascript, Perl, Tcl, Ruby No cost GPL-3.0-or-later No Yes
Metapad Alexander Davidson 1999 3.6[23][24] Edit this on Wikidata 2011-05-28 C No cost GPL-3.0-or-later Yes No
mg Dave Conroy 1986 current[b] 2020-07-22 C No cost Public domain No Yes
MinEd Thomas Wolff 1992 2022.27 2022-12-23 C No cost GPL No Yes
MS-DOS Editor Microsoft 1991 2.0.026 Bundled with MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows Proprietary No Yes
ne Sebastiano Vigna
Todd Lewis
Daniele Filaretti
1993 3.3.3[26] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-10-19 C No cost GPL-3.0-or-later No Yes
NEdit Mark Edel 1991 5.7[27] Edit this on Wikidata 2017-02-08 C No cost GPL-2.0-or-later Yes No
Notepad Microsoft 1985 11.2302.16.0 MASM (originally) Bundled with Microsoft Windows Proprietary Yes No
Notepad++ Don Ho 2003-11-25 8.6.4[28] Edit this on Wikidata 2024-02-20 C++ No cost GPL-3.0-or-later Yes No
nvi Keith Bostic 1994 1.81.6[29] Edit this on Wikidata 2007-11-18 C No cost BSD-3-Clause No Yes
Pico University of Washington 1992 4.64 C No cost Apache-2.0 No Yes
PimNote Pimtel 2023 1.2.0[30] 2023-04-22 C# No cost Proprietary Yes No
PolyEdit PolySoft Solutions 1998 5.4 2010‑04‑07 $27.95 Shareware Yes No
PSPad Jan Fiala 2002 5.0.7[31] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-03-10 Object Pascal (Delphi) No cost Proprietary Yes No
RJ TextEd Rickard Johansson 2004 15.63[32] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-09-29 Object Pascal (Delphi) No cost Proprietary Yes No
Sam Rob Pike 1980s (early) stable C No cost LPL (OSI approved) No Yes
SciTE Neil Hodgson 1999 5.3.7[33] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-07-26 C++ $41.99 for macOS. No cost for others HPND Yes No
SlickEdit SlickEdit, Inc. 1988 28.0.1 2024-01-21 C, Slick-C $299 Proprietary Yes No
Smultron Peter Borg 2004 12.0.6 Edit this on Wikidata 2020-01-03 Objective-C $7.99 Proprietary Yes No
Source Insight Source Dynamics ? 4.0.0084 2017-02-26 Source Insight macro language $239-$255 Proprietary Yes No
SubEthaEdit TheCoding­Monkeys 2003 5.2.4[34] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-01-08 No cost MIT Yes
Sublime Text Jon Skinner, Sublime HQ 2008 4 (Build 4169)[35] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-11-24 C++, Python $99 Shareware Yes No
TED Notepad Juraj Simlovic 2001 6.3.1[36] Edit this on Wikidata 2021-12-01 C No cost Proprietary Yes No
Textadept Mitchell 2007 12.3[37] Edit this on Wikidata 2024-03-01 C, Lua No cost MIT Yes Yes
TextEdit Apple Inc. 2001 1.18 Edit this on Wikidata 2022-10-24 No cost (also bundled with macOS) BSD-3-Clause Yes No
TextMate MacroMates 2004-10-10 2.0.23[38] Edit this on Wikidata 2021-10-12 Objective-C++ No cost GPL-3.0-or-later Yes No
TextPad Helios Software Solutions 1992 9.3.0[39] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-08-01 $30.00 (£16.50) Shareware Yes No
TextWrangler Bare Bones Software 2003 5.5.2 2016-09-20 No cost Proprietary Yes
The SemWare Editor Sammy Mitchell 1985-11 4.49[40] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-01 C, SAL No cost BSD-2-Clause
UltraEdit IDM Computer Solutions 1994 25.0 2018-03-12 C++ $99.95 Proprietary Yes No
VEDIT Ted Green, Greenview Data 1980 6.24.2 2015-01-12 Assembly, C $89 standard, $239 Pro64 Proprietary Yes Yes
vi Bill Joy 1976 3.7 C No cost BSD-4-Clause or CDDL No Yes
Vim Bram Moolenaar 1991 9.1.0[41][42] Edit this on Wikidata 2024-01-02 C, Vim script No cost Vim Yes Yes
Visual Studio Code Microsoft 2015 1.87.2[43] Edit this on Wikidata 2024-03-12 JavaScript, TypeScript No cost Source code: MIT[44]
Binaries built by Microsoft: Proprietary[45][46]
Yes No
XEmacs Lucid Inc. 1991 21.4.22[47] Edit this on Wikidata 2009-01-30 C, Emacs Lisp No cost GPL-2.0-or-later Yes Yes
XNEdit Olaf Wintermann 2018 1.5.2 2023-10-05 C No cost GPL-2.0-or-later Yes No

Operating system support[edit]

This section lists the operating systems that different editors can run on. Some editors run on additional operating systems that are not listed.

Cross-platform[edit]

Natural language (localization)[edit]

Available languages for the UI
Languages supported
Acme English
AkelPad English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish
Alphatk English
Atom English
BBEdit English
Brackets English, German, French, Polish(Outdated), Korean, Japanese, Italian, Czech, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish(Outdated)
Coda English, German, French, Spanish
ConTEXT English, German, French, Polish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish
Crimson Editor English
CudaText Main: English. Addons: Japanese, French, Polish, Korean, Hungarian (2018), Greek, German (2017), and 9 others
ed
Editra English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
EmEditor English, German, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Spanish
epsilon English
Geany English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Hindi
gedit English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Hindi
GNU Emacs English
JED English
jEdit English
JOE[49] English, German, French
JOVE English
Kate[50] English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
KEDIT English
Komodo Edit English
KWrite English, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
Metapad[51] English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
mined English
MS-DOS Editor English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
Nano English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese
NEdit English
Notepad English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Hindi
Notepad++ English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Hindi
nvi English
Pico English, Italian
PolyEdit English
PSPad English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Czech, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
RJ TextEd English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
Sam English
SciTE[52] English, German, French (Outdated (1.72)), Polish, Japanese (Outdated (1.62)), Italian, Dutch (Outdated (1.67)), Portuguese (Outdated (1.63)), Spanish, Swedish
SlickEdit English
Smultron English, German, French, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish
Source Insight English
SubEthaEdit English
TED Notepad English
TextEdit English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
TextMate English
TextPad English, German, French, Polish (Outdated (4.7.3)), Japanese, Italian(Outdated (4.7.3)), Dutch (Outdated (4.7.3)), Spanish (Outdated (4.7.3)), Portuguese (Outdated (4.7.3))
TextWrangler English
The SemWare Editor English
UltraEdit English, German, French, Korean, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese
VEDIT English
vi English
Vim Afrikaans, Catalan, Chinese(Simplified), Chinese(Taiwan), Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, English(UK), English(US), Esperanto, Finnish, French, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Norwegian(Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese(Brazil), Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Visual Studio Code English, Bulgarian, Chinese, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish
XEmacs English
XNEdit English

Document interface[edit]

Text editor support for common document interfaces
Multiple instances Single document window splitting MDI: overlappable windows MDI: tabbed document interface MDI: window splitting
Acme Yes Yes No No Yes
AkelPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Atom Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bluefish Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Brackets No No No Yes Yes
Coda Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ConTEXT Yes No Yes Yes No
Crimson Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
CudaText Yes Yes No Yes Yes
ed Yes No No No No
Editra Yes Yes ? Yes ?
EmEditor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Geany Yes Yes
Plug‑in
No Yes No
gedit Yes Yes
Plug‑in[h]
Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in[i]
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes
[j][k]
Yes
JED Yes Yes No No Yes
jEdit Yes Yes No Yes Yes
JOE Yes Yes No No
[l]
Yes
JOVE Yes Yes No No Yes
Kate Yes Yes No Yes Yes
KEDIT Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Komodo Edit Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Komodo IDE Yes Yes No Yes Yes
KWrite Yes No No No No
LE Yes No No No No
Light Table Yes No No Yes Yes
Metapad Yes No No No No
mined Yes No No
[m]
Yes No
MS-DOS Editor Yes Yes No No Yes
Nano Yes No No No No
NEdit Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Notepad Yes No No Yes No
Notepad++ Yes Yes No Yes Yes
2 windows
nvi Yes Yes No No Yes
Pico Yes No No No No
PolyEdit No No Yes Yes Yes
PSPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Sam Yes No Yes No No
SciTE Yes No No Yes
[n]
No
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Smultron Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Source Insight Yes Yes Yes No No
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes No Yes No
TED Notepad ? ? ? No ?
TextEdit Yes No No No No
TextMate Yes No No Yes No
TextPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
TextWrangler Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
The SemWare Editor Yes Yes No No Yes
UltraEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VEDIT Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
vi Yes No No No No
Vim Yes Yes Yes
[o]
Yes
[p]
Yes
Visual Studio Code Yes Yes No Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XNEdit Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Multiple instances Single document window splitting MDI: overlappable windows MDI: tabbed document interface MDI: window splitting

Notes[edit]

  • Multiple instances: multiple instances of the program can be opened simultaneously for editing multiple files. Applies both for single document interface (SDI) and multiple document interface (MDI) programs. Also applies for program that has a user interface that looks like multiple instances of the same program (such as some versions of Microsoft Word).
  • Single document window splitting: window can be split to simultaneously view different areas of a file.
  • MDI: Overlappable windows: each opened document gets its own fully movable window inside the editor environment.
  • MDI: Tabbed document interface: multiple documents can be viewed as tabs in a single window.
  • MDI: Window splitting: splitting application window to show multiple documents (non-overlapping windows).

Basic features[edit]

Text editor support for basic editing features
Spell checking Regex-based find & replace Encoding conversion Newline conversion Multiple undo/redo Rectangular block selection Virtual space support
Acme Yes
external[q]
Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?
AkelPad Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Atom Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
No
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Bluefish Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?
Brackets Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes
Plug‑in
No Yes Yes ?
Coda Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
ConTEXT No Partial
[r]
Partial
[s]
Yes Yes Yes ?
Crimson Editor Yes
Instant/live (like Firefox)
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
CudaText No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
ed No Yes No No No No ?
Editra Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
EmEditor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Geany Yes
Plug‑in[t]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[54]
gedit Yes
[u]
Yes
Plug‑in[v]
Yes Yes Yes plug‑in
[55]
?
GNU Emacs Yes
Plug‑in[w]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[56]
JED Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
jEdit Yes
Plug‑in[x]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[57]
JOE Yes
Plug‑in[y]
Partial
[z]
No
[aa]
Yes Yes Yes ?
JOVE Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ?
Kate Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
KEDIT No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ?
Komodo Edit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?[ab]
Komodo IDE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?[ac]
KWrite Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
LE No Yes No
[ad]
Yes Yes Yes ?
Light Table Yes
Plug‑in[58]
? No No Yes ? ?
Metapad Partial
[ae]
No Yes Yes Yes No ?
mg No Yes
[59]
No Partial Yes
[59]
No ?
MinEd No Yes
[af]
Yes
[ag]
Yes
[ah]
No Yes ?
MS-DOS Editor No No No Yes No No Yes
Nano Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ?
Spell checking Regex-based find & replace Encoding conversion Newline conversion Multiple undo/redo Rectangular block selection Virtual Space Support
ne No Yes No No Yes Yes ?
NEdit Yes
Plug‑in[60]
Yes No Yes Yes Yes ?
Notepad No No Partial Partial Yes No ?
Notepad++ Yes
[61]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
nvi No Yes No No Yes ? ?
Pico Yes No No No No No ?
PolyEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
PSPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Sam No Yes No No Yes No ?
SciTE No Limited
[ai]
No Yes Yes Yes ?
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[62]
Smultron Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Source Insight No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ?
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
[63]
?
Sublime Text Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No[64]
TED Notepad No No No Yes Yes No ?
TextEdit Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
TextMate Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes ?
TextPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
TextWrangler Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
The SemWare Editor Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ?
UltraEdit Yes Limited
[aj]
Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
VEDIT Yes
[ak]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
vi No Yes No No No No ?
Vim Yes
[al]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No[66]
Visual Studio Code Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes Yes Limited
[am]
No[67]
XEmacs Yes
Plug‑in[w]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
XNedit Yes
Plug‑in[60]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Spell checking Regex-based find & replace Encoding conversion Newline conversion Multiple undo/redo Rectangular block selection Virtual Space Support

Programming features[edit]

Text editor support for programming features (see source code editor)
Syntax highlighting Function list Symbol database
(ctags or equiv.)
Brace matching Auto indentation Auto completion Code folding Text folding Compiler integration
Acme No Yes
external[q]
Yes
external[q]
Yes Yes Partial
[an]
No No Yes
external[q]
AkelPad Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
No Yes
Plug‑in
Alphatk Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Atom Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bluefish Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
[ao]
Brackets Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Coda Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
ConTEXT Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Crimson Editor Yes No Partial
[ap]
Yes Yes No No No Yes
CudaText Yes Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
ed No No No No No No No No Yes
external[aq]
Editra Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? ?
EmEditor Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in[ar]
Yes Yes Yes
Geany Yes Yes Yes
[as]
Yes Yes Yes Partial No Yes
gedit Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
No Yes
Plug‑in[at]
Yes
[au]
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
JED Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
jEdit Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
JOE Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes
JOVE No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes
Kate Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
KEDIT Yes No Yes
Macro
Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Komodo Edit Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Komodo IDE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
KWrite Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
LE Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No
[av]
Light Table Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No Partial
[aw]
Metapad No No No No Yes No No No No
mined Yes
[ax]
? Yes Yes Yes No No No No
MS-DOS Editor No No No No No No No No No
Nano Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No No
Syntax highlighting Function list Symbol database
(ctags or equiv.)
Bracket matching Auto indentation Auto completion Code folding Text folding Compiler integration
ne Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No No
NEdit Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
No No Yes
Notepad No No No No No No No No No
Notepad++ Yes Yes
[ay]
Yes
[68][69]
Yes Yes Yes
[az]
Yes Yes Yes
nvi No ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Pico No No No No No No No No No
PolyEdit Yes No No No No No No No No
PSPad Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Sam No No No No No No No No Yes
external[ba]
SciTE Yes No
[bb]
? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Smultron Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
Source Insight Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Limited
SubEthaEdit Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
TED Notepad No ? ? No Yes Yes No No No
TextEdit No No No No No No No No No
TextMate Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes
[bc]
Yes Yes No
TextPad Yes No Yes
Plug‑in[bd]
Yes Yes No No No Yes
TextWrangler Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in[be]
The SemWare Editor Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in[70]
Yes Yes Yes
[bf]
Partial
[bg]
No Yes
UltraEdit Yes Yes Partial
[bh]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VEDIT Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
<[bi]
No No Yes
vi No No Yes Yes No No No No Yes
Vim Yes Yes
Plug‑in[71]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Visual Studio Code Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XNEdit Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
No No Yes
Syntax highlighting Function list Symbol database
(ctags or equiv.)
Bracket matching Auto indentation Auto completion Code folding Text folding Compiler integration

Notes[edit]

  • Syntax highlighting: Displays text in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms.
  • Function list: Lists all functions from current file in a window or sidebar and allows user to jump directly to the definition of that function for example by double-clicking on the function name in the list. More or less realtime (does not require creating a symbol database, see below).
  • Symbol database: Database of functions, variable and type definitions, macro definitions etc. in all the files belonging to the software being developed. The database can be created by the editor itself or by an external program such as ctags. The database can be used to instantly locate the definition even if it is in another file.
  • Bracket matching: Find matching parenthesis or bracket, taking into account nesting.
  • Auto indentation: May refer to just simple indenting to the same level as the line above, or intelligent indenting that is language specific, e.g., ensuring a given indent style.
  • Compiler integration: Allows running compilers/linkers/debuggers from within editor, capturing the compiler output and stepping through errors, automatically moving cursor to corresponding location in the source file.

Extra features[edit]

Text editor support for other programming features
Text shell integration Graphical shell integration Macro language Collaborative editing Large file support Long line support Multi-line regex support[bj] Search in files
Acme Yes Yes Yes
Extensible
No ? ? Yes ?
AkelPad Yes Yes Yes No memory Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes
[bk]
No ? ? ? ?
Atom No
[72]
? Yes
Plug‑in[73]
Yes No ~27 MB Soft-wrapping No
[74]
Yes
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes
[bl]
No memory
[75]
Yes Yes Yes
Bluefish No Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes ?
Brackets Yes Yes Yes
Extensible
No No ? Partial Yes
Coda Yes No Yes
[bm]
Yes ? ? Yes Yes
ConTEXT No Yes Yes No memory
[bn]
? No ?
Crimson Editor No Yes Yes No No ? No ?
CudaText No No Yes
Plug‑in
No ? ? Yes Yes
Plug‑in
ed Yes No Yes Yes
via mkfifo
? ? ? Yes
Editra ? ? ? ? Yes
2 GB
? ? ?
EmEditor Yes Yes Yes No Yes
16TB
? Yes Yes
Geany Yes ? Yes
Plug‑in
? ? ? Yes Yes
gedit Yes Yes Yes
[bo]
Yes
Plug‑in
No ? Yes Yes
Plug‑in[76]
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes 2.3 EB[77][78][79][80] Yes Yes Yes
JED Yes No Yes No memory
[81]
Yes No Yes
Plug‑ins
jEdit Yes No Yes No No (heap)[bp] ? Yes Yes
JOE Yes No Yes No Yes[citation needed] ? ? Yes
[83]
JOVE Yes No No No memory ? No No
Kate Yes Yes Yes
Plug‑in
No No
[84]
Maybe
[bq]
Yes Yes
Plug‑in
KEDIT Yes Yes Yes No Yes[citation needed] 10Kb Yes No
Komodo Edit ? ? Yes
[86]
No ? ? Yes Yes
Komodo IDE ? ? Yes
[86]
Yes ? ? Yes Yes
KWrite No No No No No
[84]
No
[87]
No ?
LE Yes No No No
[br]
memory
[bs]
? Yes ?
Light Table No Yes No No ? ? No Yes
Metapad Yes Yes No No memory
[88]
? No No
mined ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
EDIT (MS-DOS) No No No No No (64~300 KB) No No No
EDIT (DR-DOS) No No No No 2 GB, for as long as there is disk swap space for two temporary files Yes No No
Nano Yes No No No ? ? ? ?
Text shell integration Graphical shell integration Macro language Collaborative editing Large file support Long line support Multi-line regex support Search in files
NEdit Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ?
Notepad Yes Yes No No memory ? No No
Notepad++ Yes Yes Yes Yes
[89]
Yes
2GB[90]
Yes
[91]
Yes Yes
nvi Yes No No ? ? ? ? ?
Pico ? ? ? No ? ? ? ?
PolyEdit Yes Yes No No Yes[citation needed] ? Yes ?
PSPad Yes Yes Yes No memory
[92]
? Yes
with plug‑in
Yes
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes No No ? Yes ?
Sam Yes No Yes No ? ? Yes Yes
external[ba]
SciTE ? ? Yes No No ? No Yes
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes No Yes
2 TB
Yes Yes Yes
Smultron ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Source Insight ? ? Yes No ? ? No ?
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes No Yes ? ? Yes ?
TED Notepad Yes Yes No No No ? ? ?
TextEdit Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ?
TextMate Yes Yes Yes No No ? Yes ?
TextPad No Yes Yes No memory
[93]
? Yes Yes
TextWrangler Yes Yes Yes No memory
[94]
Yes Yes ?
The SemWare Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Only in special DOS multi-user version Yes
2 GB
Yes ? Yes
UltraEdit Yes Yes Yes No Yes
[bt]
Yes Yes Yes
VEDIT Yes Yes Yes No Yes[citation needed] Yes Yes Yes
vi Yes No Yes No No ~65 MB ? Yes Yes
Vim Yes Yes Yes Yes
with plug‑in[95]
memory
[bu]
Yes Yes Yes
Visual Studio Code Yes Yes Yes Yes
with plug‑in[96]
? ? Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes Yes on 64-bit OS
[bv]
? Yes Yes
XNEdit Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ?
Text shell integration Graphical shell integration Macro language Collaborative editing Large file support Long line support Multi-line regex support Search in files

Large file support:

Yes = Larger than 4 GiB (LFS) Yes2 GB = Larger than 1 GB, not limited by memory
memory = Limited by available memory    No (64 KB) = Some limit less than available memory (give max size if known)

In general, most text editors do not support large text files. Some restrict themselves to available in-core RAM while others use sophisticated virtual memory management techniques and paging algorithms.[97]

Search in files: Perform search (and possibly replace) in multiple files on disk, for example on a sub-directory and recursively all the directories below it. Similar to grep.

Key bindings[edit]

Support for custom key bindings.

Text editor support for key bindings.
Dynamically customizable IBM CUA macOS Vi Emacs Pico WordStar WordPerfect Brief
Acme No No No No No No No No No
AkelPad Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Alphatk ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Atom ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
BBEdit[98][99] Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Bluefish Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Brackets Yes Partial Yes Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
No No No No
Coda Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
ConTEXT ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Crimson Editor ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
CudaText Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
ed No No No No No No No No No
Editra No No No Yes No No No No No
EmEditor Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
epsilon Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? Yes
Geany Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
gedit Yes
[bw]
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial
[100]
Yes
[101]
Yes
[102]
Yes
[102]
JED Yes Partial
[bx]
? Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes
jEdit Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ?
JOE[103] Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No No
JOVE Yes No No No Yes No Yes
[104]
No No
LE Yes ? ? No ? ? ? ? ?
Light Table Yes Partial ? Yes
Plug‑in
Yes
Plug‑in
? ? ? ?
Kate Yes No No Yes
[105]
No No No No No
KEDIT Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Komodo Edit Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Komodo IDE Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
KWrite Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Metapad ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
mg Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
mined ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ?
MS-DOS Editor No No No No No No No No No
Nano Yes No No No Partial
[106]
Yes No No No
NEdit Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Notepad No Yes No No No No No No No
Notepad++ Partial Yes No No No No No No No
nvi ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ?
Pico No No No No Partial
[106]
Yes No No No
PolyEdit ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
PSPad Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
RJ TextEd Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sam No No No No No No No No No
SciTE Partial
[by]
? ? No No No ? ? ?
SlickEdit Yes
[bz]
Yes Yes
[ca]
Partial
[cb]
Yes No No No Yes
Smultron ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Source Insight Yes ? No No No No ? ? ?
SubEthaEdit No No Yes No No No No No No
TED Notepad ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
TextEdit No No Yes No No No No No No
TextMate No No Yes No No No No No No
TextPad Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
TextWrangler[98][107] Yes ? Yes No Yes No ? ? ?
The SemWare Editor Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
UltraEdit Yes ? No ? ? ? ? ? ?
VEDIT Yes Yes No No
[108]
No No Yes Yes Yes
vi Yes No No Yes No No No No No
Vim Partial Yes
Plug‑in[109]
Yes
Plug‑in[110]
Yes
[cc]
Yes
Plug‑in[cd]
Yes
Plug‑in[112]
Yes
Plug‑in[113]
No Yes
Plug‑in[114]
Visual Studio Code Yes No Yes Yes
Plug‑in[115]
Yes
Plug‑in[116]
No No No Partial
Plug‑in[117]
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial
[100]
Yes
[101]
Yes
[102]
Yes
[102]
XNEdit Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dynamically customizable IBM CUA macOS Vi Emacs Pico WordStar WordPerfect Brief

Notes, bugs[edit]

  • Vim: custom maps of Ctrl-1 .. Ctrl-9, Ctrl-0 cannot be set, nor is Control-Shift-<char> distinguished from Ctrl-<char>.[118][119]
  • Notepad++: custom shortcuts of Shift-<char> cannot be set, they need an added modifier such as Ctrl or Alt. i.e. SCI_LINESCROLLUP cannot be bound to "Shift-I"as the "Add"button is greyed out.
  • Emacs and Pico: pico uses most of Emacs's motion and deletion commands: ^F ^B ^P ^N ^D etc.

Protocol support[edit]

Support for editing files over a network or the Internet.

Text editor support for remote file editing over network protocols
FTP HTTP SSH WebDAV
Acme No No No No
AkelPad No No No No
Alphatk Yes No No Yes
Atom ? ? ? ?
BBEdit Yes No Yes No
Bluefish Yes Yes Yes Yes
Brackets Yes
Plug‑in
No No No
Coda Yes Yes Yes Yes
ConTEXT No
[120]
? No
[120]
?
Crimson Editor Yes No No No
CudaText Yes No No No
ed No No No No
Editra ? ? ? ?
EmEditor No No No No
Geany No No No No
gedit Yes Yes Yes Yes
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes
JED No No No No
jEdit Yes
plug‑in[121]
Yes
[122]
Yes
plug‑in[121]
Yes
plug‑in.
JOE No No No No
JOVE No No No No
LE No No No No
Kate Yes Yes Yes Yes
KEDIT No No No No
Komodo IDE Yes
FTP, FTPS, SFTP
No Yes No
KWrite Yes Yes Yes Yes
Metapad No No No No
mined ? ? ? ?
MS-DOS Editor No No No No
Nano No No Yes No
FTP HTTP SSH WebDAV
NEdit No No No No
Notepad No No No No
Notepad++ Yes
Plug‑in for FTP, FTPS, FTPES, SFTP
No Yes
Plug‑in
No
nvi No No No No
Pico No No No No
PolyEdit No No No No
PSPad Yes No No No
RJ TextEd Yes
FTP, SFTP
No Yes No
Sam No No No No
SciTE No No No No
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes No
Smultron Yes ? ? ?
Source Insight No No No No
SubEthaEdit Yes No No No
TED Notepad No
[123]
? No
[123]
?
TextEdit No No No No
TextMate Yes No No No
TextPad No No No No
TextWrangler Yes
FTP, SFTP[124]
No Yes No
The SemWare Editor No No No No
UltraEdit Yes No Yes No
VEDIT Yes No No No
vi No No No No
Vim Yes
[125]
Yes
[125]
Yes
[125]
Yes
[125]
Visual Studio Code Yes
Plug‑in[126]
Yes
Plug‑in (limited?)[126]
Yes
Plug‑in[126]
Yes
Plug‑in[126]
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes ?
XNEdit No No No No
FTP HTTP SSH WebDAV

Unicode and other character encodings[edit]

To support specified character encoding, the editor must be able to load, save, view and edit text in the specific encoding and not destroy any characters. For UTF-8 and UTF-16, this requires internal 16-bit character support.

Partial support is indicated if: 1) the editor can only convert the character encoding to internal (8-bit) format for editing. 2) If some encodings are supported only in some platforms. 3) If the editor can only display specific character set (such as OEM) by loading corresponding font, but does not support keyboard entry for that character set.

Right-to-left and bidirectional text[edit]

Support for Right-To-Left (RTL) texts is necessary for editing some languages like Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, and Yiddish and the mixture of left to right (LTR) and RTL known as bi-directional (BiDi) support.

Depending on the algorithm used in the programs it might only render the bidirectional text correctly but may not be able to edit them. (e.g. Notepad++ 5.1.3 shows bidirectional texts correctly but cannot edit it and user should change the text direction to RTL to be able to edit RTL texts correctly.)

Right to left (RTL) & bidirectional (bidi) support
Right-to-left (RTL) Bi-directional (Bidi)
Acme No No
AkelPad No No
Alphatk ? ?
Atom No No
BBEdit Yes Yes
Bluefish Yes Yes
Brackets ? ?
Coda ? ?
ConTEXT ? ?
Crimson Editor ? ?
ed ? ?
Editra ? ?
EmEditor No No
Geany ? ?
gedit Yes Yes
GNU Emacs Yes Yes
[cp]
JED ? ?
jEdit No No
JOE ? ?
JOVE No No
LE ? ?
Kate Yes Yes
KEDIT No No
Komodo Edit No No
Komodo IDE No No
KWrite ? ?
Metapad ? ?
MS-DOS Editor ? ?
mined Yes
[cq]
Yes
[cq]
Nano ? ?
RTL Bidi
NEdit No No
Notepad Yes Yes
Notepad++ Yes Partial
[cr]
nvi ? ?
Pico ? ?
PolyEdit ? ?
PSPad ? ?
RJ TextEd Yes Yes
Sam No No
SciTE No No
SlickEdit ? ?
Smultron ? ?
Source Insight No No
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes
TED Notepad ? ?
TextEdit Yes Yes
TextMate No No
TextPad ? ?
TextWrangler Yes Yes
The SemWare Editor No No
UltraEdit No No
VEDIT ? ?
vi ? ?
Vim Yes Yes
through terminal support
Visual Studio Code No Yes
XEmacs ? ?
XNEdit No No
RTL Bidi

Newline support[edit]

Support for newline characters in line endings
Windows (CR/LF) Unix-like systems (including macOS)[129] (LF) Classic Mac OS (CR)
Acme Yes Yes Yes
AkelPad Yes Yes Yes
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes
Atom Yes Yes No
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes
Bluefish Yes Yes Yes
Brackets Yes Yes No
Coda Yes Yes Yes
ConTEXT Yes Yes Yes
Crimson Editor Yes Yes Yes
CudaText Yes Yes Yes
ed No Yes No
Editra Yes Yes Yes
EmEditor Yes Yes Yes
Geany Yes Yes Yes
gedit Yes Yes Yes
GNU Emacs[cs] Yes Yes Yes
JED Yes Yes Yes
jEdit Yes Yes Yes
JOE[130] Yes Yes No
JOVE Yes Yes Yes
Kate Yes Yes Yes
KEDIT Yes Yes Yes
Komodo Edit Yes Yes Yes
Komodo IDE Yes Yes Yes
KWrite Yes Yes Yes
LE Yes Yes No
Metapad Yes Yes ?
MS-DOS Editor Yes No No
mined Yes Yes Yes
Nano Yes Yes Yes
NEdit Yes Yes Yes
Notepad Yes No No
Notepad++ Yes Yes Yes
nvi ? Yes ?
Pico Yes Yes Yes
PolyEdit Yes Yes Yes
PSPad Yes Yes Yes
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes
Sam ? ? ?
SciTE Yes Yes Yes
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes
Smultron Yes Yes Yes
Source Insight Yes Yes Yes
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes Yes
Sublime Text Yes Yes Yes
TED Notepad Yes Yes Yes
TextEdit Yes Yes Yes
TextMate Yes Yes Yes
TextPad Yes Yes Yes
TextWrangler Yes Yes Yes
The SemWare Editor Yes Yes Yes
UltraEdit Yes Yes Yes
VEDIT Yes Yes Yes
vi No Yes No
Vim Yes Yes Yes
Visual Studio Code Yes Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes
XNEdit Yes Yes Yes
Windows (CR/LF) Unix-like systems (including macOS) (LF) Classic Mac OS (CR)

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ alexey_t, kvichans, matthias030.
  2. ^ last update in OpenBSD repo[25]
  3. ^ a b No native support, available as a part of the Inferno port for Windows or by using `plan9port` over the WSL.
  4. ^ a b c d e Requires Cygwin or the Windows Subsystem for Linux to run on Windows.
  5. ^ GEdit, when installed from MacPorts, runs in X11 and, therefore, does not have a native look and feel. However, precompiled native macOS binaries for GEdit may be downloaded from the GEdit project page, or from the GEdit FTP download server.
  6. ^ a b c gedit, NEdit, and SciTE run in the X11 window environment, and therefore do not use the native Aqua look-and-feel when running on macOS.
  7. ^ Stand alone NSIS installable package is available
  8. ^ gedit supports single document window splitting via plug‑ins. [1] Archived 2011-12-14 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ^ gedit supports multiple document window splitting via plug‑ins. [2] Archived 2011-12-14 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ^ GNU Emacs 27.1 includes built-in support for tab bar (per-frame) and tab-line (per-window). Earlier versions of GNU Emacs can use a tabbed document interface in a non OS-native way using the Tabbar plug‑in.
  11. ^ GNU Emacs can support a tabbed document interface modelled after GNU Screen using the elscreen Archived 2008-01-17 at the Wayback Machine package.
  12. ^ JOE supports editing multiple files but only seeing one of them, and switching to others via Ctrl+K+N, which is functionally equivalent to having tabs but no visible tab bar.
  13. ^ mined supports Copy/Paste between multiple documents in separate windows, when these documents are in separate terminal windows
  14. ^ SciTE_max_buffers
  15. ^ Vim Provided GVim is used.
  16. ^ Vim version 7 supports a tabbed document interface. Earlier versions can emulate tabs through scripts, for example.[53]
  17. ^ a b c d Acme can invoke external commands and display their return values in order to integrate additional functionality.
  18. ^ ConTEXT does not support regular expression backreferences in its search and replace function. [3] Archived 2007-12-18 at archive.today
  19. ^ ConTEXT only supports converting text to UTF-16. Also, it can only use one type of new-line format if converting to UTF-16.
  20. ^ Geany supports spell checking via a plug‑in
  21. ^ gedit supports spell checking via a plug‑in, which is distributed with gedit.
  22. ^ gedit supports Regex-based find & replace via plug‑ins ([4] Archived 2011-12-14 at the Wayback Machine).
  23. ^ a b Emacs supports spell checking via the external programs ispell, aspell, or Hunspell.
  24. ^ jEdit supports spell checking via an external plug‑in.
  25. ^ JOE supports spell checking via the ispell or aspell external plug‑ins.
  26. ^ JOE uses a non-standard regular expression syntax.
  27. ^ JOE can easily pipe text through the GNU recode(1) utility; it detects locale settings and allows editing in any encoding set up by the environment.
  28. ^ Komodo Edit is based on Scintilla and may support virtual space similar to Geany and Notepad++ ([5])
  29. ^ Komodo IDE is based on Scintilla and may support virtual space similar to Geany and Notepad++ ([6])
  30. ^ LE can pipe text through the GNU recode(1) utility
  31. ^ Metapad spell checking by calling external program Aspell.
  32. ^ mined supports multiple lines in search and replacement expressions.
  33. ^ mined can convert the encoding format when using the Copy & Paste feature between multiple documents (that have different encodings).
  34. ^ mined supports new-line conversion via a command-line option or from the menu. Files with mixed newline types can be edited transparently; different kinds of new-line have different visual indications.
  35. ^ Scintilla-based editors such as SciTE, Notepad2 and Notepad++ do not support alternation (
  36. ^ UltraEdit uses the Boost C++ regex library. While Boost supports backreferences past \9 with \g{10}, UltraEdit has not yet implemented this feature.
  37. ^ VEDIT 6.2 comes with Scribe spelling checker which has been written entirely in Vedit macro language. In addition, macro package for integrating Aspell can be downloaded here.
  38. ^ Vim version 7 supports spell checking natively. Earlier versions require a script.[65]
  39. ^ Visual Studio Code does not support virtual space, and rectangular selection beyond line endings is not possible.
  40. ^ Acme's auto-completion only works on file names.
  41. ^ bluefish: Configurable via the outputbox feature.
  42. ^ With external tool OpenCTags
  43. ^ ed can invoke external commands, like a compiler.
  44. ^ EmEditor Professional supports Auto Complete via plug‑ins (32-bit or 64-bit).
  45. ^ Geany uses its own tags file format, not compatible with ctags, see the manual.
  46. ^ gedit-folding: Folding plug‑in for Gedit
  47. ^ gedit: Compiler integration: Functionality in plug‑ins installed with gedit.
  48. ^ make can be launched from the LE text editor, but the output is not captured
  49. ^ Evaluates expressions in some dynamic languages such as Clojure, Python and Javascript in realtime
  50. ^ mined: Syntax highlighting: HTML/XML, Javascript, JSP.
  51. ^ Notepad++ comes with Function List support, and it can be enhanced via plugins.
  52. ^ Notepad++ installs with auto complete list for multiple programming languages. Has user option to add additional personalized auto complete list(s).
  53. ^ a b It is possible to start external applications from inside Sam and display their return values.
  54. ^ Function list (and stuff) available in Ru-Board build, ver 1.79.66Ru and later
  55. ^ TextMate: Auto complete: Supported language bundles
  56. ^ Textpad uses an add-on ([7])
  57. ^ TextWrangler can integrate with a compiler if you write a shell script that takes flag input of the code and compiles it. You place this in ~/Library/Application Support/TextWrangler/Unix Support/Unix Filters/. It should show in the #! menu.
  58. ^ The Semware Editor: Auto complete: Supported via supplied/user-created lists.
  59. ^ The Semware Editor: Text folding: Compressed view possible.
  60. ^ Not in the Linux version.
  61. ^ Vedit: Auto complete: Template editing, plus 3rd party macro for expanding symbols from tags database.
  62. ^ Multi-line regex support Support for expressions spanning several lines (e.g. "\n\n(.+)\n\n")
  63. ^ Alpha Macro support via AppleScript, Tcl or text factories.
  64. ^ BBEdit Macro support via AppleScript, Perl, Python, Lasso, shell scripts or text factories.
  65. ^ Coda offers macros via AppleScript, text "clips,"or plug‑ins (Cocoa apps or any installed scripting language).
  66. ^ name
  67. ^ Cssed Macro support via Python.
  68. ^ jEdit: Limited by Java heap size.[82]
  69. ^ Kate: Line length is limited by default. The limit can be removed, but long lines may cause poor performance.[85]
  70. ^ LE text editor locks the file and warns if someone else has changed the file
  71. ^ LE text editor can view and edit large files or their parts in mmap-shared mode
  72. ^ UltraEdit has no real limit on file size - and can easily open, edit, and save large text files in excess of 4 GB! [8].
  73. ^ 2GB with 32 Bits, on a 64 Bit system it depends on the available virtual memory.
  74. ^ Emacs: 64-bit compilation on 64-bit OS can handle 2 GB files, otherwise the limit is 512 MiB. [9]
  75. ^ It is possible to customize all Gedit shortcuts because it is Gtk based.
  76. ^ The JED base release comes with a basic CUA emulation, but it doesn't bother to bind lots of useful editor features. Also, like some other editors, 1 side of a region must be at the cursor. The main extension collections jedmodes/jed-extra and the "Red Project" have improved versions, tackling the former problem in particular.
  77. ^ In SciTE, custom keystrokes may be assigned to Lua scripts, external programs or lexers (highlighters).
  78. ^ SlickEdit provides emulation of Visual Studio, Visual C++ 6, CodeWright, Epsilon and ISPF key bindings in addition to those given in the table.
  79. ^ SlickEdit supports CodeWarrior, Xcode and BBEdit key binding emulation.
  80. ^ SlickEdit includes support of vi key bindings, the ex command line and some, but not all Vim extensions.
  81. ^ Vim emulates vi keys fully when in 'compatible' mode
  82. ^ Vim With a script[111]
  83. ^ a b c d e f when choosing e.g. Terminal font
  84. ^ GNU Emacs: While GNU Emacs supports the UTF-8 encoding, it doesn't fully support the Unicode standard, since it doesn't fully support the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (see comment in the 'Right-to-left and bidirectional text' section below).
  85. ^ GNU Emacs: While GNU Emacs supports the UTF-16 encoding, it doesn't fully support the Unicode standard, since it doesn't fully support the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (see comment in the 'Right-to-left and bidirectional text' section below).
  86. ^ JEDs Windows version comes with a pair of scripts that can convert UTF-16 text files (actually anything iconv can convert) to and from JED's internal UTF-8. The Red Project releases include an enhanced version of these scripts.
  87. ^ nvi Gentoo
  88. ^ SciTE can open files in UTF or one single-byte encoding specified in a configuration file.
  89. ^ a b TextPad can load and save UTF-8 and UTF-16 text files, but cannot use or even preserve characters outside of the system encoding.[127]
  90. ^ when choosing e.g. New Courier font
  91. ^ a b Vedit can convert UTF-8 and UTF-16 files to Windows character set and back. Characters not included in Windows charset can be preserved.
  92. ^ Vim supports EBCDIC when compiled on a system that uses the EBCDIC character set.
  93. ^ from version 21.5.29
  94. ^ GNU Emacs

    (1) According to a comment in the source file where the bidi support is implemented (http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/tree/src/bidi.c accessed August 15, 2017), GNU Emacs doesn't fully conform to the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (Unicode Annex #9, a.k.a. UAX #9) in the way it wraps the lines of a bidi paragraph: "we are violating paragraph 3.4 of UAX#9. which mandates that line breaking shall be done before reordering each screen line separately."

    (2) According to the online GNU Emacs manual (section 22.19 Bidirectional Editing, accessed August 15, 2017), for the purpose of changing paragraph direction, "Paragraph boundaries are empty lines, i.e., lines consisting entirely of whitespace character". This contrasts with the otherwise ubiquitous convention of regarding the newline marker (LF on Unix derivatives, including macOS, and CR+LF on Windows) as the paragraph separator in plain text documents. However starting with version 26.0.50, the bidi paragraph separator can be customized.
  95. ^ a b mined: supports bidi in cooperation with bidi terminal (mlterm, mintty); also supports "poor man's bidi mode"(automatic visual text order right-to-left input) in normal terminal
  96. ^ Notepadpp: Scintilla (Notepad++'s Engine) does not really support bidirectional editing ... Some bidirectional text support added in 4.1.0. https://sourceforge.net/p/scintilla/bugs/757/#01c9
  97. ^ GNU Emacs: GNU Emacs doesn't regard the newline marker as a paragraph separator in bidi texts. See comment in the 'Right-to-left and bidirectional text' section.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Alphatk news". Archived from the original on 5 February 2009.
  2. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  3. ^ "BBEdit 15.0 Release Notes (English)".
  4. ^ "June 3 2023 - Bluefish 2.2.14 release". 3 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Release 2.1.3". 31 October 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  6. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  7. ^ "Emerald Editor - Browse /crimsoneditor/crimson-editor-3.72-r286m at SourceForge.net".
  8. ^ "Release 1.200.0".
  9. ^ "Epsilon 14 Update Information". Lugaru Software, Ltd. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  10. ^ "Release 1.4.1".
  11. ^ "News in 46.1".
  12. ^ "Release 1.37.1". 8 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  13. ^ Eli Zaretskii (18 January 2024). "Emacs 29.2 released". Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  14. ^ "[Info-nano] [ANNOUNCE] nano-7.2 is released". 18 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  15. ^ "jEdit - Browse /jedit at SourceForge.net". Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  16. ^ "TDE base libraries and programs". Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Release 12.0.1".
  18. ^ "Releases: 24.02". Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  19. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  20. ^ "Release 6.7.6". 19 December 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Release 0.8.1". 22 January 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  22. ^ Yury V. Zaytsev (27 January 2024). "[mc] Midnight Commander 4.8.31 released". Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  23. ^ "Announcing Metapad 3.6". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011.
  24. ^ "3.6 final version change".
  25. ^ "src/usr.bin/mg at master · openbsd/src". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  26. ^ "Release 3.3.3". 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  27. ^ "NEdit - Browse /nedit-source at SourceForge.net".
  28. ^ "Release 8.6.4". 20 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  29. ^ "nvi 1.81.6". 18 November 2007.
  30. ^ Pimtel. Pimnote.
  31. ^ "Full version: 5.0.7 (770) - 10 March 2023". 10 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  32. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  33. ^ "History of SciTE, Scintilla, and Lexilla".
  34. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  35. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  36. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  37. ^ "Release 12.3". 1 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  38. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  39. ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  40. ^ "SemWare homepage". Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  41. ^ "Vim 9.1 is available". 2 January 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  42. ^ "Release v9.1.0". 2 January 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  43. ^ "February 2024 Recovery 2". 12 March 2024. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  44. ^ "LICENSE.txt". github.com/Microsoft/vscode. Microsoft. 17 November 2015.
  45. ^ "Microsoft Software License Terms". code.visualstudio.com. Microsoft. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  46. ^ "The best parts of Visual Studio Code are proprietary".
  47. ^ "XEmacs: XEmacs 21.4.22 "Instant Classic" is released". 30 January 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  48. ^ "New Features in Epsilon 13". www.lugaru.com.
  49. ^ "JOE - Joe's own editor". JOE - Joe's own editor / Mercurial / [2e4f45] /po. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  50. ^ "KDE Localization - Apps » stable » kate.po". l10n.kde.org.
  51. ^ "Metapad language plugins". liquidninja.com.
  52. ^ "Localised SciTE". scintilla.org.
  53. ^ "TabBar - Plugin to add tab bar ( derived from miniBufExplorer). : vim online". www.vim.org.
  54. ^ "Geany".
  55. ^ "Gedit/Plugins/ColumnMode - GNOME Wiki!". Archived from the original on 2012-01-11.
  56. ^ "Virtual space for rectangular selections (at least)". Stack Exchange. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  57. ^ "Selecting Text".
  58. ^ "GitHub - rschroll/lt-spelling: Spell check plugin for Light Table". April 29, 2015 – via GitHub.
  59. ^ a b "Super User's BSD Cross Reference: /OpenBSD/usr.bin/mg/re_search.c". bxr.su.
  60. ^ a b NEdit supports spell checking via a plug‑in
  61. ^ Notepad++ 6.3.3 Archived 2013-11-26 at the Wayback Machine and above support spell checking via the DSpellCheck plug‑in, which is included with the default package.
  62. ^ https://wiki.c2.com/?SlickEdit[bare URL]
  63. ^ SubEthaEdit supports advanced block editing, including multi-line typing and non-contiguous block selections.
  64. ^ "Virtual space". 28 March 2012.
  65. ^ "Engspchk - Spelling checker: On-the-fly spell checking, multi-language, alternate spellings : vim online". www.vim.org.
  66. ^ "Indent with virtual spaces in Vim?". reddit.com. 28 January 2021.
  67. ^ "Virtual Space is not implemented. · Issue #13960 · microsoft/Vscode". GitHub.
  68. ^ "GitHub - ffes/npptags: Universal Ctags plug-in for Notepad++". March 7, 2019 – via GitHub.
  69. ^ "NotePad++ Plugin. Allows to connect to SQL Servers, execute SQL commands and views results: vladk1973/npp.connections". June 21, 2019 – via GitHub.
  70. ^ "TSE-Pro Files". www.semware.com.
  71. ^ Vim has a popular TagList plug‑in that provides a function list.
  72. ^ "Feature Request: Integrated Shell/Terminal Access · Issue #14490 · atom/atom". GitHub.
  73. ^ "atom-macros". Atom. 8 June 2022.
  74. ^ "Multi-line find and replace in project · Issue #398 · atom/find-and-replace". GitHub.
  75. ^ "Handling large files presents no intrinsic problems for BBEdit, though some specific operations may be limited when dealing with files over 2GB in size." BBEdit FAQs Archived 2019-07-29 at the Wayback Machine.
  76. ^ "Gedit File Search Plugin". oliver.github.io.
  77. ^ "GNU Emacs 23.2 NEWS -- history of user-visible changes".
  78. ^ "Buffers". A buffer's size cannot be larger than some maximum, which is defined by the largest buffer position representable by Emacs integers. This is because Emacs tracks buffer positions using that data type. For typical 64-bit machines, this maximum buffer size is 2^{61} - 2 bytes, or about 2 EiB. For typical 32-bit machines, the maximum is usually 2^{29} - 2 bytes, or about 512 MiB. Buffer sizes are also limited by the amount of memory in the system.
  79. ^ "Does Emacs have problems with large files?".
  80. ^ "GNU emacs manual - Narrowing".
  81. ^ "The JED Editor" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-05. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
  82. ^ "'Re: [ jEdit-users ] Big file take AGES' - MARC". marc.info.
  83. ^ "JOE - Joe's Own Editor". JOE - Joe's own editor / Mercurial / [2e4f45] /docs/man.md. Retrieved 23 October 2015. The search covers all loaded buffers.
  84. ^ a b kwrite-devel, Large Files open slowly due to futile Syntax-Highlighting
  85. ^ "The Kate Handbook".
  86. ^ a b "Macros". docs.activestate.com.
  87. ^ Lines longer than ~700 characters frequently cause crashes. KatePart documentation Archived 2018-01-07 at the Wayback Machine (which is also the KWrite documentation, see here Archived 2018-01-07 at the Wayback Machine)
  88. ^ metapad FAQ, Loading Large Files
  89. ^ "Notepad++ - How to Remotely work on the Same File in Real Time". Archived from the original on 2021-12-12 – via www.youtube.com.
  90. ^ "Text limit". Community. January 16, 2019.
  91. ^ "Configurable through settings".
  92. ^ "PSPad forum / Bug report / Hlášení chyb / cannot open large file". forum.pspad.com.
  93. ^ "Edit large mbox files - MozillaZine Knowledge Base". kb.mozillazine.org.
  94. ^ "TextWrangler is a RAM-based editor, and it uses system memory to hold open files. TextWrangler also represents open documents as Unicode, which uses two bytes for each character. Combined with an internal Mac OS X limitation, this means that you can open files up to 384 megabytes in size." TextWrangler FAQs Archived 2019-10-10 at the Wayback Machine.
  95. ^ "GitHub - FredKSchott/CoVim: Collaborative Editing for Vim". November 13, 2019 – via GitHub.
  96. ^ "Live Share - Visual Studio Marketplace". marketplace.visualstudio.com.
  97. ^ Comparison of Windows Text Editors for Large Files: Text editors for large files
  98. ^ a b "Bare Bones Software | BBEdit Comparison Chart". www.barebones.com.
  99. ^ "Bare Bones Software | Features". www.barebones.com.
  100. ^ a b pico uses most of Emacs's motion and deletion commands: ^F ^B ^P ^N ^D etc. See Pico: A Unix text editor Archived 2012-09-05 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 2012‑01‑09.
  101. ^ a b GNU Emacs can have Wordstar emulation, with the command M-x wordstar-mode, as found from ws-mode.el retrieved 2017‑03‑14. See also the "Emulation" section of the previous GNU Emacs manual. The WordStar mode, however, has been obsolete since GNU Emacs 24.5.
  102. ^ a b c d "AC.27 Emulation". GNU Emacs manual. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  103. ^ "JOE - Joe's Own Editor". JOE - Joe's own editor / Mercurial / [2e4f45] /docs/man.md. Retrieved 23 October 2015. JOE also emulates several other editors. JSTAR is a close imitation of WordStar [...]. JPICO is a close imitation of the Pine mailing system's PICO editor [...]. JMACS is a GNU-EMACS imitation. [...] Key binding tables are defined. You can define as many as you like [...].
  104. ^ "Usenet". www.megalextoria.com.
  105. ^ Kate supports an optional VI Input Mode Archived 2009-02-28 at the Wayback Machine.
  106. ^ a b pico (and nano) uses most of Emacs's motion and deletion commands: ^F ^B ^P ^N ^D etc. See Pico: A Unix text editor Archived 2012-09-05 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 2012‑01‑09.
  107. ^ "Bare Bones Software | TextWrangler Features". www.barebones.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-11. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  108. ^ Vedit: Old Unix and QNX versions could emulate Vi 100%. Windows version doesn't come with vi emulation.
  109. ^ "GitHub - fabi1cazenave/cua-mode.vim: Make CTRL-ZXCV behave like in Notepad". February 26, 2019 – via GitHub.
  110. ^ "GitHub - likaci/ViFinder: Vim like Keybinding FileManager for OS X." October 13, 2019 – via GitHub.
  111. ^ "Vimacs - Vim-Improved eMACS: Emacs emulation for Vim : vim online". www.vim.org.
  112. ^ "GitHub - LnL7/vim-pico: Vim configuration files for Pico". September 2, 2014 – via GitHub.
  113. ^ "Vim distribution optimized for writing". Sep 16, 2021 – via GitHub.
  114. ^ "brief.vim - Brief editor key binding emulation in Vim : vim online". www.vim.org.
  115. ^ "Vim - Visual Studio Marketplace". marketplace.visualstudio.com.
  116. ^ "Emacs - Visual Studio Marketplace". marketplace.visualstudio.com.
  117. ^ "Brief Editor Keymap Emulation - Visual Studio Marketplace". marketplace.visualstudio.com.
  118. ^ "Vim - General - unable to map ctrl-1". vim.1045645.n5.nabble.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  119. ^ "Vim - General - How to map (say) Ctrl-Shift-B". vim.1045645.n5.nabble.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  120. ^ a b Text Editor Features Archived 2007-12-18 at archive.today at ConTEXT.cx
  121. ^ a b jEdit FTP and SFTP are supported via the FTP plug‑in.
  122. ^ jEdit: "HTTP is supported natively"
  123. ^ a b "TED Notepad". jsimlo.sk.
  124. ^ "Bare Bones Software | TextWrangler Tour". www.barebones.com. Archived from the original on 2019-11-29. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
  125. ^ a b c d Vim Supported via netrw plug‑in distributed in the standard Vim installation.
  126. ^ a b c d "Remote Workspace - Visual Studio Marketplace". marketplace.visualstudio.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-10. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  127. ^ "Community :: View topic - Unicode Conformance". forums.textpad.com.
  128. ^ "Support EBCDIC encodings · Issue #49891 · microsoft/vscode". GitHub.
  129. ^ "Did Mac OS Lion switch to using line feeds (LF '\n') for line breaks instead of carriage returns (CR '\r')?". Super User.
  130. ^ "JOE - Joe's Own Editor". JOE - Joe's own editor / Mercurial / [2e4f45] /docs/man.md. Retrieved 23 October 2015. character sets must use LF (0x0A) or CR-LF (0x0D - 0x0A) as line terminators [...]. [...] character sets which use CR terminated lines (MACs) will not yet work.