If we are users who require an application to take notes on or program from our computer, we may know Notepad ++ , a well-known plain text editor ideal for programmers and designers. But this is not the only option on the market. Both if you do not like this editor or if we prefer to know other similar programs, today we tell you what are the best alternatives.
Notepad ++, a powerful free text editor
Possibly, Notepad ++, is the most popular alternative text editor to NotePad in Windows of those that exist in the market. It is a free and open source programming software, which is compatible with various languages such as Pascal, Ada, C, C ++, Java, among others, and has native support for Windows.
It is a tool that will remind us of the classic Windows Notepad, since it also allows you to easily edit plain text . Beyond that, Notepad ++ is a much more powerful tool because it includes more advanced programming options. It is written in C ++ and uses the win32 and STL API for greater speed.
It has a tab system that allows us to keep several documents open at the same time and has different options such as syntax coloring, auto-completion, zoom, markup, recording and reproduction of macros, support for extensions, as well as search functions, among others. .
Despite being a great text editor, it is not perfect, and it has some problems when loading large files, as well as not being able to detect programming languages automatically. Therefore, today we are going to talk about the best alternatives to Notepad ++ that you should know.
Other very interesting minimalis text editors
Sublime Text
It is a sophisticated text editor and source code editor written in C ++. It has a command palette that contains functionalities such as sorting, changing syntax or changing indent settings. It has all kinds of shortcuts and search tools to easily find any of its many functions. It is a very light tool and allows multiple cursors that allow us to write or edit in several places of the document at the same time. It supports a large number of programming languages such as HTML, Python, LESS, PHP, CSS, XML, and C ++ among others.
Sublime Text has a free trial version that you can download from its website . To be able to use it fully, it is necessary to buy its license that has a price of $ 80. The program is compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
UltraEdit
It is a flexible, powerful and secure text editor, compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux. It has tools such as autocomplete the lines of code or a text checker, and it has a hexadecimal editor, with the possibility of connecting to an FTP or having several text editors open at the same time. UltraEdit is designed to edit large files , making it ideal for handling large database and log files. It also has a preview option that allows us to preview rendered HTML or Markdown changes on the fly as we edit them.
You can download a trial version of UltraEdit from its official website. In order to fully enjoy this program we must pay $ 79.95 for your annual license.
Atom
It is an open source free text editor compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux operating systems, which will allow us to work with Git and GitHub directly. It has an intuitive interface with multiple panels to compare and edit code between files, as well as a browser to find and open all kinds of files and projects from one window. In addition, it incorporates an intelligent autocomplete , with which we can write all kinds of codes more quickly and efficiently.
Download Atom for free directly from its official website.
PSPad
This is a programming-oriented plain text editor, since it allows us to edit in languages such as C, C ++, COBOL, Batch, CSS, HTML, XHTML, Pascal, Perl, Python, RSS, among others, and can also be used as an editor hexadecimal . It is a simple yet powerful tool that can be used in various programming environments. PSPad has an intuitive tab system that will allow us to work with several documents simultaneously, as well as save sessions, spell correction and compare all kinds of texts showing the differences through colors.
PSPad is a completely free application that we can download from its official page .
XEmacs
It is a text editor that can work in both console and graphical mode , being open source and compatible with Linux and Windows operating systems. This application allows to be used in an integrated development environment (IDE), which allows programmers the possibility to edit, debug and compile their code from a single interface. It allows the edition of text written in multiple languages , more or less analogous to Unicode and has a powerful and extensible file manager.
XEmacs can be downloaded for free from its website .
AkelPad
It is an open source plain text editor , very light and fast . It has support for single window (SDI) and multiple window (MDI), for Unicode codes (UTF-8. UTF-16LE, UTF-16BE, UTF-32LE, UTF-32BE), as well as for Windows line formats, Linux and Mac OS. It allows us to divide the window into 1, 2 or 4 parts, being able to see up to 4 documents at the same time. Furthermore, it is compatible with plugins such as syntax highlighting, folding, word autocompletion, script execution, keyboard macros, among others. We can also view the file before opening it, just like opening a preview before printing it.
You can download AkelPad for free from its website.
EditPad Lite
It is a program with which we can edit plain text and it has all the essential features to facilitate text editing. Full Unicode support is available , including all kinds of complex scripts. It allows direct editing of text files using text encoding and line breaks in Windows, UNIX and Mac. Its interface allows us to work with many files at once, being able to edit open files even after saving.
EditPad Lite is a free tool for personal use, which we can download from its official website . For commercial use, it is necessary to pay the license, which can be purchased from 24.95 euros, for one unit.
QOwnNotes
It is an open source, multiplatform and free application, with which we can take all kinds of notes in plain text. QOWmnNotes is a text editor that allows you to have several folders of notes at the same time, it has support for scripts, support to correct spelling and encrypts all the notes in AES 256 format. It also makes use of folders and subfolders, allowing us to use elements such as images, hyperlinks or tables. It has a simple and intuitive interface from which any user can use the program in a simple way.
Vim
It is one of the longest-running text editors since it was created in 1991. Vim is a very advanced text editor that requires some knowledge to be able to discover all the functions it incorporates. It has an excellent search and replace tool , along with a large number of plugins that allow you to edit the functions of this editor, and it has support for hundreds of programming languages and file formats.
Vim has support for Windows, Mac OS and Linux platforms and can be downloaded for free from the official website.
