Notepad++ is a text editor. It is available for Microsoft Windows Platform only. In Windows, default text editor is Notepad. But, it is very much primitive. It helps you to create, modify text files. So if you need fast, feature rich editor, you should try Notepad++. You can use it as a direct replacement for the Windows Notepad.
Notepad++ is free, Open source and distributed under GPL license. It is simple, easy to use, fast and feature-rich editor. It also supports external plugins which extend the functionality.
Why is it fast?
As per Author, it uses powerful editing component Scintilla, Windows 32 API call and STL which makes it fast. It is smaller in size and consumes less memory and CPU power.
There are some good text editors like TextPad, Notepad2, NoteTab, etc available in the market. I was using Textpad in beginning for PL/SQL coding, but when I started using Notepad++, after that never thought of another editor.
In this article, we will discuss Notepad++, its features, plugin support and how to download and install. I will also give some reference at the end of the article, which you can read further.
Contents
Notepad++ Features
It is feature rich editor. Below are some of the prominent features,
Multi-Document (Tab interface)
It supports both horizontal as well as verticle tab. Each tab run separately with the individual close button.
How many tabs could it open? I have tried somewhere around 200. I doubt anyone would need this much table in the real world.
Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding
This is one of the most important features which I love. It highlights reserved words, comments are a different color when syntax highlighting is chosen. It really good to eyes and become easy to undersrad code.
Effective Search/Replace
It provides good search and repalce faret
Auto-completion: Word completion, Function completion and Function parameters hint
There are many refer this article and Wikipedia for the complete list.
Download Notepad++
Notepad++ is available for Windows 32 bit and 64-bit architecture. Depending on your operating system download correct version. If you are not sure about the configuration of your OS, it is safe to use 32 bit installer.
Notepad++ v7.5.6 is the latest version at the time of writing this article. See Enhancements & bug-fixes in this article.
Download 32-bit x86
Click on below link to download the latest version for 32 bit OS.
- Notepad++ Installer 32-bit x86
- Notepad++ zip package 32-bit x86
- Notepad++ 7z package 32-bit x86
- Notepad++ minimalist package 32-bit x86
- SHA-1/MD5 digests for binary packages
Download 64-bit x64
Click on below link to download the latest version for 64 bit OS.
- Notepad++ Installer 64-bit x64
- Notepad++ zip package 64-bit x64
- Notepad++ 7z package 64-bit x64
- Notepad++ minimalist package 64-bit x64
- SHA-1/MD5 digests for binary packages
Download Older Version
Notepad++ is frequently updated with new feature and new versions released. You can also download older version from this link.
Install Notepad++
- Download installer version from the list given above.
- Double Click on the downloaded file. Select language.
- Accept terms and conditions
- Choose install location.
- Choose Components
- Click next and finally finish
Notepad++ Plugins
Notepad++ has some good plugins which extend the functionality of it. You can check this link for complete plugin list. You can read this document about Notepad++ and install notepad. This will help you to install and tell you hot to use the plugin
Contribute
Notepad++ source code repository is available on GitHub:- https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus. You can pull the source code and modify it to add a new feature.
Online Help
You can refer below links if you need any help or support.
Final Thought
I am using notepad++ since last 8 year and found it really helpful. I love it for its speed and some good plugins available
Which text editor are you using? Do comment below and let me know.
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Reference and further reading
