Comparison of text editors
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This article provides a basic feature comparison for several text editors. Additional feature details are available from the Category of text editor features and from the individual products' articles. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date.
The comparisons are made on the stable versions of software – not the upcoming versions or beta releases – and without the use of any add-ons, extensions or external programs (unless specified in footnotes).
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Creator | First public release | Latest stable version | Programming language used | Cost (US$) | Software license | Open source | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | Rob Pike | 1993 | Plan 9 and Inferno | Free | LPL, (OSI approved) | Yes | |
AcroEdit | SungDong Kim | 1999 | 0.9.18.82 | Delphi | Free | Freeware | No |
AkelPad | Shengalts A.A. | 2003 | 4.1.4 | C++ | Free | Freeware | Yes |
Alphatk | Vince Darley | 1999 | 8.3.3 | $40 | Proprietary, with BSD components | No | |
AptEdit | Brother Technology | 2003 | 4.8.1 | C++ | $44.95 | Proprietary | No |
Aquamacs | David Reitter | 2005 | 1.6 | C and Elisp | Free | GPL | Yes |
BBEdit | Rich Siegel | 1992-04 | 9.1.1 | $125, $49 educational | Proprietary | No | |
Bluefish | Bluefish Development Team | 1999 | 1.0.7 | Free | GPL | Yes | |
Caditor | Caglow | 2008 | 2.03 | C# | Free | AFL | Yes |
Coda[dubious ] | Panic, Inc. | 2007 | 1.6.2 | $99 | No | ||
ConTEXT | ConTEXT Project Ltd | 1999 | 0.98.5 | Borland Delphi | Free | Proprietary | No |
Crimson Editor | Ingyu Kang | ? | 3.7 | Free | GPL | Yes | |
Crystal C/C++ | SGV Sarc, Inc | 1999 | 4.00 | C, embedded C, C++ | $249 onwards | Proprietary | No |
CRiSP Editor | Foxtrot Systems Ltd, Paul Fox | 1990 | 9.4.3 | $99 | Proprietary | No | |
Diakonos | Pistos | 2004 | 0.8.8 | Ruby | Free | MIT | Yes |
e | Alexander Stigsen | 2005 | 1.0.30 | $34.95 | Proprietary | No | |
ed | Ken Thompson | 1970 | unchanged from original | Free | / | Yes | |
EditPlus | Sangil Kim | 1998 | 3.10 | $35 | Shareware | No | |
Editeur | Jean-Pierre Menicucci | 1992 | 5.3.4 | $28 | Shareware | No | |
EmEditor | Emurasoft, Inc. | 1997 | 8.04 | $39.99 (1-user) | Shareware | No | |
epsilon | Lugaru Software | 1984 | 13.06 | C | $250.00 | proprietary | No |
gedit | GNU Project | 2000 | 2.26 | C | Free | GPL | Yes |
Geany | Enrico Tröger | 2005 | 0.15 | Free | GPL | Yes | |
GNU Emacs | Richard Stallman | 1984 | 22.3 | C and Elisp | Free | GPL | Yes |
Gobby | 0x539 dev group | 2005 | 0.4.7 | C++ | Free | GPL | Yes |
JED | John E. Davis | 1992 | 0.99-18 | C | Free | GPL | Yes |
jEdit | Slava Pestov | 1998 (?) | 4.2 | Java | Free | GPL | Yes |
JOE | Joseph Allen | 1988 | 3.5 | C | Free | GPL | Yes |
Kate | KDE Project | 2000-12 | 3.2.1 | Free | GPL | Yes | |
KWrite | KDE Project | 2000 | 4.5 | Free | GPL | Yes | |
LE | Alexander V. Lukyanov | 1997 | 1.13.8 | C++ | Free | GPL | Yes |
Metapad | Alexander Davidson | 1999 | 3.51 | Free | Freeware | No | |
mined | Thomas Wolff | 1992 | 2000.14 | C | Free | GPL | Yes |
MS-DOS Editor | Microsoft | 1991 | 2.0.026 | Bundled with MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows | Proprietary | No | |
Nano | Chris Allegretta | 1999 | 2.0.9 | C | Free | GPL | Yes |
NEdit | Mark Edel | 1991 | 5.5 | Free | GPL | Yes | |
Notepad | Microsoft | 1985 | 6.0 | Bundled with Microsoft Windows | Proprietary | No | |
Notepad++ | Donho Don Ho | 2003-11-25 | 5.2 | C++ | Free | GPL | Yes |
Notepad2 | Florian Balmer | 2004-04 | 2.0.18 | C++ | Free | BSD license | Yes |
NoteTab | Eric Fookes, Fookes Software | 1995 | 5.61 | Free, $10 Standard, $20 Pro | Proprietary | No | |
nText | Paul Kenny | 2008 | Java | Free | GPL, (OSI approved) | Yes | |
nvi | Keith Bostic | ? | 1.79 | Free | BSD license | Yes | |
Pico | University of Washington | ? | 4.64 | Free | Proprietary | No | |
PolyEdit | PolySoft Solutions | 1998 | 5.0 Preview Release | $27.95 | Shareware | No | |
PowerPad | Nathan Osman | 2009 | 1.0.1 | C++ | Free | Freeware | No |
Programmer's Notepad | Simon Steele | 1998 | 2.0.6.1 | C++ | Free | BSD license | Yes |
PSPad | Jan Fiala | 2002 | 4.5.3 | Borland Delphi | Free | Proprietary | No |
Q10 (text editor) | Baara Estudio | ? | 1.2.21 | ? | Free | Proprietary | No |
RJ TextEd | Rickard Johansson | ? | 4.521 | Borland Delphi | Free | Proprietary | No |
RText | Fifesoft | 2003 | 0.9.9.6 | Java | Free | GPL | Yes |
sam | Rob Pike | 1980s | Plan 9 and Inferno | Free | LPL, (OSI approved) | Yes | |
SciTE | Neil Hodgson | 1999-03 | 1.77 | Free | HPND | Yes | |
skEdit | Sean Kelly, skti | 2002 | 3.6.1 | $24.95 for a Lifetime license | Proprietary | No | |
SlickEdit | SlickEdit, Inc. | 1988 | 11.0.2 | $299 | Proprietary | No | |
Smultron | Peter Borg | 2004 | 3.3 | Objective-C | Free | BSD | Yes |
Source Insight | Source Dynamics. | 1996? | 3.5 | $239 | Proprietary | No | |
SubEthaEdit | TheCodingMonkeys | 2003 | 2.6.3 | $35 for commercial use | Proprietary | No | |
TED Notepad | Juraj Simlovic | 2001 | 5.3.1 | Free | Freeware | No | |
TextEdit | Apple Computer | 2001 | 1.4 | Bundled with Mac OS X | Proprietary[citation needed] | No | |
TextMate | MacroMates | 2004-10-10 | 1.5.7 | Objective-C++ | €39 | Proprietary, with MIT components | No |
TextPad | Helios Software Solutions | 1992 | 5.2 | $32.40 (£16.50) | Shareware | No | |
TextWrangler | Bare Bones Software | ? | 2.3 | Free | Proprietary | No | |
The Gun | Steve Hutchesson | ? | 3.0f | Microsoft Assembler (100%) | Free | Freeware | No |
The SemWare Editor | Sammy Mitchell | 1985-11 | 4.4 | $99 | Proprietary | No | |
Twistpad | Carthago Software | 2006 | 1.64 | Borland Delphi | $19.95 | Proprietary | No |
UltraEdit | IDM Computer Solutions | 1994 | 15.00 | $49.95 | Proprietary | No | |
UNA | N-BRAIN, Inc. | 2008 | 1.0 | Java | Lite free, Full $300 | Proprietary | No |
VEDIT | Ted Green, Greenview Data | 1980 | 6.15.2 | Assembly and C | standard $89 , Pro64 $239 | Proprietary | No |
Vim | Bram Moolenaar | 1991 | 7.2 | C | Free | GPL - compatible | Yes |
XEmacs | Lucid Inc. | 1991 | 21.4 | C and Elisp | Free | GPL | Yes |
Zeus | Xidicone P/L | 1995 | 3.96q | C and C++ | $69.95 | Shareware | No |
Yi | Don Stewart | 2005 | 0.6 | Haskell | Free | GPL | Yes |
Creator | First public release | Latest stable version | Programming language used | Cost (US$) | Software license | Open source |
[edit] Operating system support
This section lists the operating systems that different editors can run on. Some editors run on additional operating systems that are not listed.
[edit] Cross-platform text editors
Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | OpenVMS | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Alphatk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bluefish | Partial [1] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
CRiSP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Diakonos | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
ed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
epsilon | Yes | Yes[2] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
gedit | Yes | Yes [3] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Geany | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
GNU Emacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Gobby | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
JED | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
jEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
JOE | Partial [4] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Kate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
KWrite | Partial [5] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
LE | Partial [4] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
mined | Partial [6] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Nano | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
NEdit | Partial [4] | Yes [3] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ne | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
nText | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
nvi | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Pico | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
RText | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
SciTE | Yes | Yes [3] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
SlickEdit | Yes | Yes [3] | Yes | No | Yes | No |
TaterEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
UNA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Vim | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
XEmacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Yi | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | OpenVMS |
[edit] Java-based text editors
[edit] Windows-only text editors
[edit] Mac-only text editors
- Aquamacs
- BBEdit
- Carbon Emacs
- Coda (web development software)
- Scrivener
- skEdit
- Smultron
- SubEthaEdit
- TextEdit
- TextMate
- TextWrangler
- xPad
[edit] Natural language
English | German | French | Polish | Korean | Japanese | Italian | Dutch | Portuguese | Spanish | Swedish | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AcroEdit | Yes | No | No | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | 5 |
Alphatk | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AptEdit | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
Aquamacs | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
BBEdit | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
Bluefish | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 26 |
Caditor | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | 3 |
ConTEXT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 22 |
Crimson Editor | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
Diakonos | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
e | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ed | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
EditPlus | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Editeur | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
EmEditor | Yes | Outdated (7.02) | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | 7 |
epsilon | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
gedit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 82 |
Geany | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 21 |
GNU Emacs | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
Gobby | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JED | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
jEdit | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
JOE | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 4 |
Kate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 50 fully / 18 mostly [4] |
KWrite | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
Metapad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
mined | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
MS-DOS Editor | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Nano | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
NEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Notepad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Notepad++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 43 |
Notepad2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
NoteTab | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
nText | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
nvi | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Pico | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PolyEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Programmer's Notepad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PSPad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 36 |
Q10 (text editor) | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | 6 |
RJ TextEd | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 14 |
RText | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 17 |
SciTE | Yes | Yes | Outdated (1.72) | Yes | ? | Outdated (1.62) | Yes | Outdated (1.67) | Outdated (1.63) | Yes | Yes | 39 [5] |
skEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SlickEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Smultron | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 13 |
SubEthaEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
TED Notepad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
TextEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 18 |
TextMate | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
TextPad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Outdated (4.7.3) | ? | Yes | Outdated (4.7.3) | Outdated (4.7.3) | Outdated (4.7.3) | Outdated (4.7.3) | No | 9 |
TextWrangler | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
The SemWare Editor | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Twistpad | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
UltraEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | 7 |
UNA | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
VEDIT | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
Vim | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 25 |
XEmacs | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Yi | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
Zeus | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
English | German | French | Polish | Korean | Japanese | Italian | Dutch | Portuguese | Spanish | Swedish | Total |
[edit] Document interface
Multiple instances | Single document window splitting | MDI: Overlappable windows | MDI: Tabbed document interface | MDI: Window splitting | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
AcroEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Alphatk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
AptEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Aquamacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
BBEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bluefish | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Caditor | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
ConTEXT | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Crimson Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Crystal C/C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Diakonos | Yes | No | No | No | No |
e | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
ed | Yes | No | No | No | No |
EditPlus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Editeur | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
EmEditor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Geany | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
gedit | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
GNU Emacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plugin [8] [9] | Yes |
Gobby | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JED | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
jEdit | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
JOE | Yes | Yes | No | No[10] | Yes |
Kate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
KWrite | Yes | No | No | No | No |
LE | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Metapad | Yes | No | No | No | No |
mined | Yes | No | No [11] | No | No |
MS-DOS Editor | ? | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Nano | Yes | No | No | No | No |
NEdit | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Notepad | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Notepad++ | Yes *Ran on cmd |
Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Notepad2 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
NoteTab | Yes | ? | No | Yes | 2 windows |
nText | No | No | No | No | No |
nvi | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Pico | Yes | No | No | No | No |
PolyEdit | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Programmer's Notepad | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
PSPad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Q10 (text editor) | No | No | No | No | No |
RJ TextEd | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
RText | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
SciTE | Yes | No | No | Yes [12] | No |
skEdit | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
SlickEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Smultron | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
SubEthaEdit | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
TED Notepad | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
TextEdit | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
TextMate | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
TextPad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
TextWrangler | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The SemWare Editor | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Twistpad | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UltraEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UNA | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
VEDIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Vim | Yes | Yes | Yes [13] | Yes [14] | Yes |
XEmacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Zeus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Multiple instances | Single document window splitting | MDI: Overlappable windows | MDI: Tabbed document interface | MDI: Window splitting |
[edit] Notes
- Multiple instances: multiple instances of the program can be opened simultaneously for editing multiple files. Applies both for SDI and 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).
[edit] Basic features
Spell checking | Regex-based find & replace | Encoding conversion | Newline conversion | Multiple undo/redo | Rectangular block selection | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
AcroEdit | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Alphatk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
AptEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Aquamacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
BBEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bluefish | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Caditor | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Coda | ? | Some [6] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ConTEXT | No | Partial[15] | Partial [16] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Crimson Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Crystal C/C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Diakonos | Yes [17] | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
e | Plugin[18] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ed | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
EditPlus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Editeur | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
EmEditor | Plugin[19] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Geany | Plugin[20] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
gedit | Yes [21] | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
GNU Emacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Gobby | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JED | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
jEdit | Plugin[22] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
JOE | Plugin[23] | Partial[24] | No[25] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Kate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
KWrite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
LE | No | Yes | No[26] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Metapad | Partial[27] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
mined | No | Yes | Yes [28] | Yes [29] | No | No |
MS-DOS Editor | 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 | |
NEdit | Plugin[30] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Notepad | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Notepad++ | Plugin[31] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Notepad2 | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
NoteTab | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
nText | No | No | No | No | No | No |
nvi | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
Pico | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
PolyEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Programmer's Notepad | No | Yes | Yes [32] | Yes [32] | Yes | Yes |
PSPad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Q10 (text editor) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RJ TextEd | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
RText | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
SciTE | No | Limited[33] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
skEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SlickEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Smultron | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
SubEthaEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [34] |
TED Notepad | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
TextEdit | Yes | No | 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 |
Twistpad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UltraEdit | Yes | Yes [35] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UNA | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
VEDIT | Plugin[36] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Vim | Yes [37] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
XEmacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Yi | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Zeus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Spell checking | Regex-based find & replace | Encoding conversion | Newline conversion | Multiple undo/redo | Rectangular block selection |
[edit] Programming features
Syntax highlighting | Function list | Symbol database (ctags or equiv.) |
Brace matching | Auto indentation | Auto completion | Code folding | Text folding | Compiler integration | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
AcroEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Alphatk | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
AptEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Aquamacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
BBEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bluefish | Yes | ? | ? | Yes[38] | Yes | Yes | Yes[39] | No | Yes[40] |
Caditor | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
ConTEXT | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Crimson Editor | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
Crystal C/C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Diakonos | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
e | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ed | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
EditPlus | Yes | Yes[41] | Yes[42] | Yes | Yes | Yes[43] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Editeur | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
EmEditor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plugin [44] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Geany | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
gedit | Yes | ? | Plugin | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes[45] |
GNU Emacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Gobby | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JED | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
jEdit | Yes | ? | Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
JOE | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes |
Kate | Yes | ? | Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plugin |
Komodo Edit | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No |
KWrite | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
LE | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No[46] |
Metapad | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
mined | Yes [47] | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Nano | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Syntax highlighting | Function list | Symbol database (ctags or equiv.) |
Bracket matching | Auto indentation | Auto completion | Code folding | Text folding | Compiler integration | |
NEdit | Yes | Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plugin | No | No | Yes |
Notepad | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Notepad++ | Yes | Plugin | Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes [48] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Notepad2 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
NoteTab | Partial [49] | ? | ? | No | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
nText | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
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 |
Programmer's Notepad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [50] | Yes [50] | Yes | Yes [50] | Yes | Yes [50] |
PSPad | Yes | Yes | Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Q10 (text editor) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RJ TextEd | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
RText | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
SciTE | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
skEdit | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
SlickEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Smultron | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
SubEthaEdit | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
TED Notepad | No | ? | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
TextEdit | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
TextMate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [51] | Yes | Yes | No |
TextPad | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
TextWrangler | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
The SemWare Editor | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes [52] | Partial [53] | No | Yes |
Twistpad | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
UltraEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UNA | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
VEDIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [54] | No | No | Yes |
Vim | Yes | Plugin [55] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
XEmacs | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Zeus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Yi | Yes [56] | No | Yes [57] | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
Syntax highlighting | Function list | Symbol database (ctags or equiv.) |
Bracket matching | Auto indentation | Auto completion | Code folding | Text folding | Compiler integration |
[edit] Notes
- Syntax highlighting: Displays text in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms. See Syntax highlighting.
- 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. (Needs clarification?)
- Auto completion:
- Code folding: See Code folding.
- Text folding: See Text folding.
- 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.
[edit] Extra features
Text shell integration | Graphical shell integration | Macro | Collaborative editing | Large file support | Multi-line regex support[58] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes |
AcroEdit | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Alphatk | Yes | Yes | Yes [59] | No | ? | ? |
AptEdit | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Aquamacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
BBEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes [60] | No | No [61] | Yes |
Bluefish | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes |
ConTEXT | No | Yes | Yes | No | No [62] | No |
Crimson Editor | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Crystal C/C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Diakonos | No | No | Yes | No | ? | Yes |
e | Yes | Yes | No[63] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ed | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
EditPlus | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Editeur | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
EmEditor | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Geany | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
gedit | Yes | Yes | Yes [64] | No | ? | No |
GNU Emacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Gobby | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
JED | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? | ? |
jEdit | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? | Yes |
JOE | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
Kate | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | No |
KWrite | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
LE | Yes | No | No | No[65] | No | Yes |
Metapad | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? |
mined | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
Nano | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? |
Text shell integration | Graphical shell integration | Macro | Collaborative editing | Large file support | Multi-line regex support[58] | |
NEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Notepad | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Notepad++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | with plugin | with plugin[citation needed] | No |
Notepad2 | No | No | No | No | ? | No |
NoteTab | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No | Yes[66] |
nvi | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Pico | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? |
PolyEdit | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Programmer's Notepad | No | No | Yes [64] | No | Yes [67] | No |
PSPad | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | with plugin |
Q10 (text editor) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RJ TextEd | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? |
RText | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
SciTE | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | No |
skEdit | Yes | Yes | No | Yes [68] | ? | ? |
SlickEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Smultron | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
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 | No | Yes |
TextWrangler | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
The SemWare Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Twistpad | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
UltraEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
UNA | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
VEDIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Vim | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
XEmacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
Zeus | Yes | Yes | Yes [69] | No | No [70] | Yes |
Text shell integration | Graphical shell integration | Macro | Collaborative editing | Large file support | Multi-line regex support[58] |
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.[71]
[edit] Key bindings
Dynamically customizable | Mac OS X | Vi | Emacs | Pico | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | No | No | No | No | No |
AcroEdit | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Alphatk | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AptEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Aquamacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
BBEdit | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Bluefish | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ConTEXT | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Crimson Editor | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Diakonos | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
e | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ed | ? | ? | No | No | No |
EditPlus | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Editeur | No | No | No | No | No |
EmEditor | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Geany | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
gedit | Yes[72] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GNU Emacs | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
Gobby | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JED | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
jEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JOE | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
LE | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? |
Kate | Yes | ? | Yes [73] | ? | ? |
KWrite | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Metapad | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
mined | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
Nano | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
NEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Notepad | No | No | No | No | No |
Notepad++ | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Notepad2 | No | No | No | No | No |
NoteTab | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
nvi | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
Pico | ? | ? | No | No | Yes |
PolyEdit | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Programmer's Notepad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PSPad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Q10 (text editor) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RJ TextEd | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RText | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SciTE | Partial[74] | ? | No | No | No |
skEdit | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SlickEdit | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
Smultron | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SubEthaEdit | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
TED Notepad | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
TextEdit | No | Yes | No | No | No |
TextMate | ? | Yes | No | No | No |
TextPad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
TextWrangler | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
The SemWare Editor | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Twistpad | Yes | No | No | No | No |
UltraEdit | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? |
VEDIT | Yes | No | No [75] | No | No |
Vim | Yes | ? | Yes [76] | Partial [77] | ? |
XEmacs | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
YI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Zeus | Yes [78] | No | No | Yes | No |
Dynamically customizable | Standard Mac OS X | Vi | Emacs | Pico |
[edit] Protocol support
FTP | HTTP | SSH | WebDAV | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
AcroEdit | Yes | No | No | No |
Alphatk | Yes | No | No | Yes |
AptEdit | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Aquamacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [79] |
BBEdit | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Bluefish | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Caditor | Yes | No | No | No |
Coda | FTP, SFTP, FTP+SSL | ? | ? | Yes |
ConTEXT | No | ? | No | ? |
Crimson Editor | Yes | No | No | No |
Diakonos | No | No | No | No |
e | Yes | No | No | No |
ed | No | No | No | No |
EditPlus | Yes | No | No | No |
Editeur | No | No | No | No |
EmEditor | No | No | No | No |
Geany | No | No | No | No |
gedit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
GNU Emacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Gobby | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JED | No | No | No | No |
jEdit | Plugin[80] | Yes [81] | No | Plugin. |
JOE | No | No | No | No |
LE | No | No | No | No |
Kate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
KWrite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Metapad | No | No | No | No |
mined | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Nano | No | No | Yes | No |
FTP | HTTP | SSH | WebDAV | |
NEdit | No | No | No | No |
Notepad | No | No | No | No |
Notepad++ | Yes | No | No | No |
Notepad2 | No | No | No | No |
NoteTab | No | ? | No | ? |
nvi | No | No | No | No |
Pico | No | No | No | No |
PolyEdit | No | No | No | No |
Programmer's Notepad | No | No | No | No |
PSPad | Yes | No | No | No |
Q10 (text editor) | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RJ TextEd | Yes | No | No | No |
RText | No | No | No | No |
SciTE | No | No | No | No |
skEdit | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
SlickEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Smultron | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
SubEthaEdit | Yes | No | No | No |
TaterEdit | Yes | No | Yes | No |
TED Notepad | No | ? | No | ? |
TextEdit | No | No | No | No |
TextMate | Yes [79] | No | No | No |
TextPad | No | No | No | No |
TextWrangler | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
The SemWare Editor | No | No | Yes *[82] | No |
Twistpad | No | No | No | No |
UltraEdit | Yes | No | Yes | No |
VEDIT | Yes | No | No | No |
Vim | Plugin [83] | Plugin [83] | Plugin [83] | Plugin [83] |
XEmacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Yi | No | No | No | No |
Zeus | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
FTP | HTTP | SSH | WebDAV |
[edit] Unicode and other character encodings
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.
If the editor can only convert the character encoding to internal (8 bit) format for editing, mark the support as partial. If some encodings are supported only in some platforms, the support is partial.
Unicode |
---|
Character encodings |
UCS |
Mapping |
Bi-directional text |
BOM |
Han unification |
Unicode and HTML |
Unicode and E-mail |
Unicode typefaces |
ASCII | ISO-8859 | DOS (OEM) | EBCDIC | UTF-8 | UTF-16 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
AcroEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Alphatk | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
AptEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Aquamacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
BBEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bluefish | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
ConTEXT | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Crimson Editor | Yes | Yes | No | No | Partial | No |
Crystal C/C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Diakonos | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
e | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
ed | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
EditPlus | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Editeur | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | No |
EmEditor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Geany | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
gedit | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
GNU Emacs | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Gobby | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JED | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No |
jEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
JOE | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
LE | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
Kate | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
KWrite | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Metapad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
mined | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
MS-DOS Editor | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Nano | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
ASCII | ISO-8859 | DOS (OEM) | EBCDIC | UTF-8 | UTF-16 | |
NEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
Notepad | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Notepad++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | plugin | Yes | Yes |
Notepad2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
NoteTab | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
nvi | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes [84] | No |
Pico | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
PolyEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Programmer's Notepad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
PSPad | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Q10 (text editor) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RJ TextEd | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
RText | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[85] | Yes | Yes |
SciTE[86] | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
skEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
SlickEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Smultron | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
SubEthaEdit | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
TED Notepad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
TextEdit | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
TextMate | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
TextPad | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Partial [87] | Partial [87] |
TextWrangler | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The SemWare Editor | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
Twistpad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UltraEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UNA | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
VEDIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial [88] |
Vim | Yes | Yes | Yes | No [89] | Yes | Yes |
XEmacs | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Partial [90] | Partial |
Yi | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
Zeus | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
ASCII | ISO-8859 | DOS (OEM) | EBCDIC | UTF-8 | UTF-16 |
[edit] Right to Left and Bidirectional
Support for right to left (RTL) texts (like Hebrew, Arabic, Persian) and the mixture of left to right (LTR) and RTL known as bidirectional (bidi) support.
Depending on the algorithm used in the programs they 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 you cannot edit it and you should change the window direction to be able to edit right to left texts correctly.)
Right-to-left (RTL) | Bi-directional (Bidi) | |
---|---|---|
Acme | ? | ? |
AcroEdit | ? | ? |
Alphatk | ? | ? |
AptEdit | ? | ? |
Aquamacs | ? | ? |
BBEdit | ? | ? |
Bluefish | ? | ? |
Caditor | ? | ? |
ConTEXT | ? | ? |
Crimson Editor | ? | ? |
Crystal C/C++ | ? | ? |
Diakonos | ? | ? |
e | ? | ? |
ed | ? | ? |
EditPlus | ? | ? |
Editeur | ? | ? |
EmEditor | ? | ? |
Geany | ? | ? |
gedit | ? | ? |
GNU Emacs | ? | ? |
Gobby | ? | ? |
JED | ? | ? |
jEdit | ? | ? |
JOE | ? | ? |
LE | ? | ? |
Kate | ? | ? |
KWrite | ? | ? |
Metapad | ? | ? |
MS-DOS Editor | ? | ? |
mined | ? | ? |
Nano | ? | ? |
RTL | Bidi | |
NEdit | ? | ? |
Notepad | Yes | Yes |
Notepad++ | Yes | No |
Notepad2 | ? | ? |
NoteTab | ? | ? |
nvi | ? | ? |
Pico | ? | ? |
PolyEdit | ? | ? |
Programmer's Notepad | ? | ? |
PSPad | ? | ? |
Q10 | ? | ? |
RJ TextEd | ? | ? |
RText | ? | ? |
SciTE | ? | ? |
skEdit | ? | ? |
SlickEdit | ? | ? |
Smultron | ? | ? |
SubEthaEdit | ? | ? |
TaterEdit | ? | ? |
TED Notepad | ? | ? |
TextEdit | ? | ? |
TextMate | ? | ? |
TextPad | ? | ? |
TextWrangler | ? | ? |
The SemWare Editor | ? | ? |
Twistpad | ? | ? |
UltraEdit | No | No |
UNA | ? | ? |
VEDIT | ? | ? |
Vim | Yes | No |
XEmacs | ? | ? |
Yi | ? | ? |
Zeus | ? | ? |
RTL | Bidi |
[edit] Newline support
Windows (CR/LF) | Unix (LF) | Mac (CR) | |
---|---|---|---|
Acme | No | Yes | No |
AcroEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Alphatk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
AptEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Aquamacs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
BBEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bluefish | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Caditor | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ConTEXT | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Crimson Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Crystal C/C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Diakonos | ? | Yes | ? |
e | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ed | No | Yes | No |
EditPlus | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Editeur | Yes | Yes | Yes |
EmEditor | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Geany | Yes | Yes | Yes |
gedit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
GNU Emacs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Gobby | ? | ? | ? |
JED | Yes | Yes | Yes |
jEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
JOE | Yes | Yes | ? |
LE | Yes | Yes | No |
Kate | Yes | Yes | Yes |
KWrite | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Metapad | Yes | Yes | ? |
MS-DOS Editor | Yes | ? | ? |
mined | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Nano | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Windows (CR/LF) | Unix (LF) | Mac (CR) | |
NEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Notepad | Yes | No | No |
Notepad++ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Notepad2 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
NoteTab | Yes | Yes | Yes |
nvi | ? | Yes | ? |
Pico | ? | Yes | ? |
PolyEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Programmer's Notepad | Yes | Yes | Yes |
PSPad | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Q10 (text editor) | ? | ? | ? |
RJ TextEd | Yes | Yes | Yes |
RText | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SciTE | Yes | Yes | Yes |
skEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SlickEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Smultron | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SubEthaEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
TaterEdit | 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 |
Twistpad | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UltraEdit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
UNA | Yes | Yes | Yes |
VEDIT | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Vim | Yes | Yes | Yes |
XEmacs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Yi | ? | Yes | ? |
Zeus | Yes | Yes | No |
Windows (CR/LF) | Unix (LF) | Mac (CR) |
[edit] See also
- List of text editors
- Wikipedia:Text editor support
- Python Editors
- List of editors at Editplus wiki
- TextEditors Wiki
- Comparison of
[edit] Notes
- "GNU Emacs manual". GNU Emacs Manual 14th edition. http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/. Retrieved on March 11 2005. "The Emacs Editor"
- Quick reference card for TextPad
- TED Notepad Manual
- BBEdit 8.6 User Manual
[edit] References
- ^ Bluefish runs on Windows using Cygwin; native win32 port in progress.
- ^ Epsilon version 13
- ^ a b c d gedit, NEdit, Scite, and SlickEdit run in the X11 window environment, and therefore do not use the native Aqua look-and-feel when running on Mac OS X.
- ^ a b c Requires Cygwin to run on Windows.
- ^ Does Kate/KWrite run on windows?KWrite runs on Windows using cygwin.
- ^ mined runs on Windows using either cygwin (via an X terminal or a stand-alone rxvt) or in command prompt window (with the DOS version).
- ^ The SemWare Editor (TSE): Linux beta version in progress.
- ^ GNU Emacs can use a tabbed document interface in a non OS-native way, using the tabbar plug-in.
- ^ GNU Emacs can support a tabbed document interface modelled after GNU Screen using the elscreen package.
- ^ 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.
- ^ mined supports Copy/Paste between multiple documents in separate windows, when these documents are in separate terminal windows
- ^ SciTE has a maximum number of buffers, which can only be set as high as 100.
- ^ Vim Provided GVim is used.
- ^ Vim version 7 supports a tabbed document interface. Earlier versions can emulate tabs through scripts, for example TabBar.
- ^ ConTEXT does not support regular expression backreferences in its search and replace function.[1]
- ^ ConTEXT only supports converting text to UTF-16. Also, it can only use one type of new-line format if converting to UTF-16.
- ^ Diakonos supports spell checking by calling the external program aspell.
- ^ e supports spell checking via a bundle command available at the e Bundles repository.
- ^ EmEditor Professional supports spell checking via plugins (32-bit or 64-bit).
- ^ Geany supports spell checking vial plugins ([2].
- ^ gedit supports spell checking via a plugin, which is distributed with gedit.
- ^ jEdit supports spell checking via an external plugin.
- ^ JOE supports spell checking via the ispell or aspell external plugins.
- ^ JOE uses a non-standard regular expression syntax.
- ^ 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.
- ^ LE can pipe text through the GNU recode(1) utility
- ^ Metapad spell checking by calling external program Aspell.
- ^ mined can convert the encoding format when using the Copy & Paste feature between multiple documents (that have different encodings).
- ^ mined supports new-line conversion via a command-line option. Different types of new-line format have different visual indications.
- ^ NEdit supports spell checking via a plugin
- ^ Notepad++ supports spell checking via the aspell external plugins.
- ^ a b Programmer's Notepad 2.
- ^ SciTE does not support alternation (|) in regular expressions.
- ^ SubEthaEdit supports advanced block editing, including multi-line typing and non-contiguous block selections.
- ^ UltraEdit used a non-standard regular expression syntax in earlier versions, but now supports its proprietary format and PCREs.
- ^ VEDIT spell checking: Macro package for integrating Aspell can be downloaded here. There is also Scribe spelling checker which has been written entirely in Vedit macro language.
- ^ Vim version 7 supports spell checking natively. Earlier versions require a script shown here.
- ^ bluefish: In the 1.1 development series only.
- ^ bluefish: In the 1.1 development series only.
- ^ bluefish: Configurable via the outputbox feature.
- ^ editplus: Opens in a window, not really integrated.
- ^ editplus: Enabled by editing the corresponding .stx file.
- ^ editplus: Enabled by editing the corresponding .acp file.
- ^ EmEditor Professional supports Auto Complete via plugins (32-bit or 64-bit).
- ^ gedit: Compiler integration: Functionality in plugins installed with gedit.
- ^ make can be launched from the LE text editor, but the output is not captured
- ^ mined: Syntax highlighting: HTML/XML, Javascript, JSP.
- ^ Notepad++: Auto complete: Supported via supplied/user-created lists.
- ^ NoteTab: Syntax highlighting only for html documents and NoteTab clip/scripts.
- ^ a b c d Programmer's Notepad 2
- ^ TextMate: Auto complete: Supported language bundles
- ^ The Semware Editor: Auto complete: Supported via supplied/user-created lists.
- ^ The Semware Editor: Text folding: Compressed view possible.
- ^ Vedit: Auto complete: Template editing, plus 3rd party macro for expanding symbols from tags database.
- ^ Vim has a popular TagList plugin that provides a function list.
- ^ unlike most editors that use regexps or ad hoc parsing, Yi" uses a algorithm of incremental parsing to dynamically update the syntax highlighiting
- ^ a b c Multi-line regex support Support for expressions spanning several lines (e.g. "\n\n(.+)\n\n")
- ^ Alpha Macro support via AppleScript, Tcl or text factories.
- ^ BBEdit Macro support via AppleScript, Perl, Python, shell scripts or text factories.
- ^ BBEdit is technically capable of any size file, but limited practically by RAM and OS X limitation to files ≤ 384mb. Cf. BBEdit FAQ Entry 36.
- ^ ConTEXT claims Large File Support but load time is proportional to file size and a 1GB file gave an Out of Memory error.
- ^ e Macro support via Cygwin and languages like Ruby, Python, or Perl.
- ^ a b Cssed Macro support via Python.
- ^ LE text editor locks the file and warns if someone else has changed the file
- ^ NoteTab: Standard and Pro versions only.
- ^ Programmer's Notepad LFS, but not optimized. Editing is too slow to be useful.
- ^ skEdit Macro support via SCM plugins.
- ^ Zeus Macro support via Python, Lua, Small-C, VBScript, JavaScript, Ruby or TCL.
- ^ The Zeus files size is not limited but the entire file is loaded into RAM so larger files will require larger amounts of RAM.
- ^ Comparison of Windows Text Editors for Large Files: Text editors for large files
- ^ It is possible to customize all Gedit shortcuts because it is Gtk based.
- ^ Kate supports an optional VI Input Mode.
- ^ In SciTE, custom keystrokes may be assigned to Lua scripts, external programs or lexers (highlighters).
- ^ Vedit: Old Unix and QNX versions could emulate Vi 100%. Windows version doesn't come with vi emulation.
- ^ Vim emulates vi keys fully when in 'compatible' mode
- ^ Vim With a script such as Vimacs
- ^ Zeus has pre-defined key bindings for Brief, Emacs, Epsilon and Wordstar.
- ^ a b Aquamacs Supported via a Mac OS X mounted volume.
- ^ jEdit FTP and SFTP are supported via the FTP plugin.
- ^ jEdit: "HTTP is supported natively"
- ^ The SemWare Editor (TSE) Console version only.
- ^ a b c d Vim Supported via netrw plugin.
- ^ nvi Gentoo
- ^ RText supports EBCDIC n z/OS and anywhere with a JVM that supports it
- ^ SciTE can open files in UTF or one single-byte encoding specified in a configuration file.
- ^ 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. [3]
- ^ Vedit can convert UTF-16 files to Windows character set and back.
- ^ Vim supports EBCDIC when compiled on a system that uses the EBCDIC character set.
- ^ XEmacs on Windows has no Unicode support built-in