Comparison of text editors

This article provides basic comparisons for common 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

List of text editors
Name Creator First public release Latest stable version Programming language Cost (US$) Software license Open source
Acme Rob Pike 1993 Plan 9 and Inferno C Free LPL (OSI approved) Yes
AkelPad Alexey Kuznetsov, Alexander Shengalts 2003 4.9.7 C Free BSD Yes
Alphatk Vince Darley 1999 8.3.3 $40 Proprietary, with BSD components No
Aquamacs David Reitter 2005 3.1a C, Emacs Lisp Free GPL Yes
Atom GitHub 2014 1.7.3 HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++ Free MIT Yes
BBEdit Rich Siegel 1992-04 11 Objective-C, Objective-C++ $49.99 Proprietary No
Bluefish Bluefish Development Team 1999 2.2.7 C Free GPL Yes
Brackets Adobe Systems 2012 1.6 HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++ Free MIT Yes
Coda Panic 2007 2.0.12 Objective-C $99 Proprietary No
ConTEXT ConTEXT Project Ltd 1999 0.98.6 Object Pascal (Delphi) Free BSD Yes
Crimson Editor Ingyu Kang, Emerald Editor Team 1999 3.72 C++ Free GPL Yes
Diakonos Pistos 2004 0.9.4 Ruby Free MIT Yes
E Text Editor Alexander Stigsen 2005 2.0.2 $46.95 Proprietary, with BSD components No
ed Ken Thompson 1970 unchanged from original C Free ? Yes
EditPlus Sangil Kim 1998 3.80 (build 961) C++ $35 Shareware No
Editra Cody Precord 2007 0.6.77 Python Free wxWindows license Yes
EmEditor Emurasoft, Inc. 1997 15.7.2 $39.99 1-user Shareware No
epsilon Lugaru Software 1984 13.06 C $250 Proprietary No
gedit GNU Project 2000 2.30.1 C Free GPL Yes
Geany Enrico Tröger 2005 1.27 C, GTK2 Free GPL Yes
GNU Emacs Richard Stallman 1984 24.5 C, Emacs Lisp Free GPL Yes
Gobby 0x539 dev group 2005 0.4.12 C++ Free GPL Yes
JED John E. Davis 1992 0.99-19 C Free GPL Yes
jEdit Slava Pestov 1998 (?) 5.3.0 Java Free GPL Yes
JOE Joseph Allen 1988 4.1 C Free GPL Yes
JOVE Johnathon Payne 1983 4.16 C Free GPL Yes
Kate KDE Project 2000-12 3.11.1 C++ Free GPL Yes
KEDIT Mansfield Software Group, Inc. 1983 1.6 $129 Proprietary No
Komodo Edit Activestate open-sourced 2007 9.3.2 Python, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl, PHP, Ruby Free MPL, GPL, LGPL Yes
Komodo IDE Activestate 2001 9.3.2 Python, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl, PHP, Ruby $295 Proprietary No
KWrite KDE Project 2000 4.11.1 C++ Free GPL Yes
LE Alexander V. Lukyanov 1997 1.14.5 C++ Free GPL Yes
Leo Edward K. Ream 1996 4.11 Python Free MIT Yes
Light Table Chris Granger 2012 0.7 ClojureScript Free MIT Yes
Metapad Alexander Davidson 1999 3.6 C Free GPL Yes
mg Dave Conroy 1986 current C Free Public domain Yes
MinEd Thomas Wolff 1992 2014.24 C Free GPL Yes
MS-DOS Editor Microsoft 1991 2.0.026 Bundled with MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows Proprietary No
Nano Chris Allegretta 1999 2.5.3 C Free GPL Yes
ne Sebastiano Vigna, Todd Lewis, Daniele Filaretti 1993 2.6 C Free GPL Yes
NEdit Mark Edel 1991 5.5 C Free GPL Yes
Notepad Microsoft 1985 6.0 MASM (originally) Bundled with Microsoft Windows Proprietary No
Notepad++ Don Ho 2003-11-25 6.9 C++ Free GPL Yes
Notepad2 Florian Balmer 2004-04 4.2.25 C++ Free BSD Yes
NoteTab Eric Fookes, Fookes Software 1995 7.1 Object Pascal (Delphi) Free, $10 Standard, $20 Pro Proprietary No
nvi Keith Bostic ? 1.79 C Free BSD Yes
Peppermint Ioannis Zafeiropoulos 2014 1.4 Objective-C, JavaScript $14.99 Proprietary No
Pico University of Washington 1992 4.64 C Free AL2 Yes
PolyEdit PolySoft Solutions 1998 5.0 preview release $27.95 Shareware No
Programmer's Notepad Simon Steele 1998 2.3 C++ Free BSD Yes
PSPad Jan Fiala 2002 4.6.0 Object Pascal (Delphi) Free Proprietary No
Q10 Baara Estudio 2007 1.2.21 ? Free Proprietary No
RJ TextEd Rickard Johansson 2004 8.42 Object Pascal (Delphi) Free Proprietary No
RText Fifesoft 2003 1.1.0 Java Free BSD Yes
Sam Rob Pike early 1980s stable C Free LPL (OSI approved) Yes
SciTE Neil Hodgson 1999 3.6.4 C++ $41.99 for OS X. free for others HPND Yes
skEdit Sean Kelly, skti 2002 3.6.1 $24.95 for lifetime Proprietary No
SlickEdit SlickEdit, Inc. 1988 19.0.0 C, Slick-C $299 Proprietary No
Smultron Peter Borg 2004 3.8 Objective-C $5 Proprietary No
Source Insight Source Dynamics ? 3.50.0072 Source Insight macro language $239-$255 Proprietary No
SubEthaEdit TheCodingMonkeys 2003 3.5.2 (3294) $35 commercial use Proprietary No
Sublime Text Jon Skinner 2008 2.0.2 C++, Objective-C++ (OS X version), Python $70 Proprietary No
TED Notepad Juraj Simlovic 2001 5.4.2 C Free Freeware No
Textadept Mitchell 2007 7.5 C, Lua Free MIT Yes
TextEdit Apple Inc. 2001 1.11 Free (also bundled with OS X) New BSD Yes
TextMate MacroMates 2004-10-10 1.5.11 Objective-C++ $53 (€39) Proprietary, with MIT components. Version 2 released under GPLv3 Yes (from version 2)
TextPad Helios Software Solutions 1992 8.0.1 $30.00 (£16.50) Shareware No
TextWrangler Bare Bones Software 2003 4.5.5 Free Proprietary No
The SemWare Editor Sammy Mitchell 1985-11 4.4 C, SAL $99 Proprietary No
Tincta Mr. Fridge Software 2011 2.0 Objective-C Free Proprietary No
UltraEdit IDM Computer Solutions 1994 23.00 C++ $79.95 Proprietary No
VEDIT Ted Green, Greenview Data 1980 6.21 Assembly, C $89 standard, $239 Pro64 Proprietary No
vi Bill Joy 1976 3.7 C Free BSD or CDDL Yes
Vim Bram Moolenaar 1991 7.4 C, Vim script Free GPL compatible Yes
Xeditor appsoft Technologies GmbH 2013 2 Webbased, JavaScript starts at $3250 Proprietary No
XEmacs Lucid Inc. 1991 21.4.22 C, Emacs Lisp Free GPL Yes
Yi Don Stewart 2005 0.8.1 Haskell Free GPL Yes

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.

Cross-platform

Text editor support for various operating systems
Windows OS X Linux BSD Unix OpenVMS
Acme Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
AkelPad Yes No No No No No
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Aquamacs No Yes No No No No
Atom Yes Yes Yes Partial[1] No No
Arachnophilia Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
BBEdit No Yes No No No No
Bluefish Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Brackets Yes Yes Yes No No No
Coda No Yes No No No No
ConTEXT Yes No No No No No
Crimson Editor Yes No No No No No
Diakonos Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
ed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
EditPlus Yes No No No No No
Editra Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
EmEditor Yes No No No No No
epsilon Yes Yes[2] Yes Yes Yes No
Geany Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
gedit Yes Yes[3] Yes Yes Yes No
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
JOVE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Kate Partial[5] Yes Yes Yes Yes No
KEDIT Yes No Yes Yes No No
Kod No Yes No No No No
Komodo Edit Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Komodo IDE Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
KWrite Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
LE Partial[4] Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Light Table Yes Yes Yes No No No
Metapad Yes No No No No No
mg No Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
MinEd Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Nano Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
ne Partial[4] Yes Yes Yes Yes No
NEdit Partial[4] Yes[6] Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notepad Yes No No No No No
Notepad++ Yes No No No No No
Notepad2 Yes No No No No No
NoteTab Yes No No No No No
nvi No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Peppermint No Yes No No No No
Pico Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Programmer's Notepad Yes No No No No No
PSPad Yes No No No No No
Q10 Yes No No No No No
RJ TextEd Yes No No No No No
RText Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Sam Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
SciTE Yes Yes[6] Yes Yes Yes No
skEdit No Yes No No No No
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
Smultron No Yes No No No No
Source Insight Yes No No No No No
SubEthaEdit No Yes No No No No
Sublime Text Yes Yes Yes No No No
TED Notepad Yes No No No No No
Textadept Yes Yes Yes No No No
TextEdit No Yes No No No No
TextMate No Yes No No No No
TextPad Yes No No No No No
TextWrangler No Yes No No No No
The SemWare Editor Yes No No No No No
Tincta No Yes No No No No
UltraEdit Yes Yes Yes No No No
Ulysses (text editor) No Yes No No No No
vi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Vim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Xeditor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yi Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Natural language (localization)

Available languages for the UI
English German French Polish Korean Japanese Italian Dutch Portuguese Spanish Swedish Hindi Total
Acme Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
AkelPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No 22
Alphatk Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Aquamacs Yes No No No ? No No No No No No ? 1
BBEdit Yes No No No ? No No No No No No ? 1
Brackets Yes Yes Yes Outdated Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Outdated No 31
Coda Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
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 Text Editor Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
ed No No No No No No No No No No No ?
EditPlus Yes No ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2
Editra Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 24
EmEditor Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No ? 14
epsilon Yes No No No ? No No No No No No ? 1
gedit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 82
Geany Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 21
GNU Emacs Yes No No No No No No No No No No No 1
Gobby Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 20
JED Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
jEdit Yes No No No ? No No No No No No ? 1
JOE[7] Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No 6
JOVE Yes No No No No No No No No No No ? 1
Kate Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 50 fully / 18 mostly[8]
KEDIT Yes No No No No No No No No No No ? 1
Komodo Edit Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
KWrite Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? 5
Metapad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 33[9]
mined Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MS-DOS Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 11
Nano Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? 4
NEdit Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Notepad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 11
Notepad++ Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 43
Notepad2 Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? 6
NoteTab Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
nvi Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Peppermint Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Pico Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? 2
PolyEdit Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Programmer's Notepad Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes No ? 7
PSPad Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 36
Q10 Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? 6
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 18
RText Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 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[10]
skEdit Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
SlickEdit Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Smultron Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? 13
Source Insight Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
SubEthaEdit Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
SublimeText Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
TED Notepad Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
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 No No No No No No No No No No ? 1
Tincta Yes No No No No No No No No No No ? 1
UltraEdit Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes No ? 7
VEDIT Yes No No No ? No No No No No No ? 1
vi Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Vim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No[11] 25
Xeditor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
XEmacs Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Yi Yes No No No No No No No No No No ? 1
English German French Polish Korean Japanese Italian Dutch Portuguese Spanish Swedish Hindi Total

Document interface

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 Yes Yes
AkelPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Atom Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Aquamacs 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
Diakonos Yes No No No No
E Text Editor Yes No No Yes Yes
ed Yes No No No No
EditPlus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Editra Yes Yes ? Yes ?
EmEditor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Geany Yes Plug-in No Yes No
gedit Yes Plug-in[12] Yes Yes Plug-in[13]
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Plug-in[14][15] Yes
Gobby Yes No No Yes No
JED Yes Yes No No Yes
jEdit Yes Yes No Yes Yes
JOE Yes Yes No No[16] Yes
JOVE Yes Yes No No Yes
Kate Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
KEDIT No No Yes No No
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[17] 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 No No
Notepad++ Yes Yes No Yes 2 windows
Notepad2 Yes No No No No
NoteTab Yes ? No Yes 2 windows
nvi Yes Yes No No No
Peppermint Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Pico Yes No No No No
PolyEdit No No Yes Yes Yes
Programmer's Notepad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
PSPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Q10 No No No No No
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
RText Yes No Yes Yes No
SciTE Yes No No Yes[18] No
skEdit Yes Yes No Yes 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
Sublime Text Yes Yes No Yes Yes
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[19] Yes[20] Yes
Xeditor Yes Yes ? ? ?
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Multiple instances Single document window splitting MDI: overlappable windows MDI: tabbed document interface MDI: window splitting

Notes

Basic features

Text editor support for basic editing features
Spell checking Regex-based find & replace Encoding conversion Newline conversion Multiple undo/redo Rectangular block selection
Acme Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
AkelPad Plug-in Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Atom Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Plug-in
Aquamacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bluefish Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Brackets Plug-in Yes Plug-in No Yes Yes
Coda Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ConTEXT No Partial[21] Partial[22] Yes Yes Yes
Crimson Editor Instant/live (like Firefox) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Diakonos Yes[23] Yes No No Yes Yes
E Text Editor Plug-in[24] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ed No Yes No No No No
EditPlus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Editra ? Yes ? ? ? Yes
EmEditor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Geany Plug-in[25] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
gedit Yes[26] Plug-in[27] Yes Yes Yes Plug-in[28]
GNU Emacs Plug-in[29] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Gobby No No Partial Partial No No
JED Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
jEdit Plug-in[30] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
JOE Plug-in[31] Partial[32] No[33] Yes Yes Yes
JOVE Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
Kate Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
KEDIT No Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Komodo Edit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Komodo IDE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
KWrite Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LE No Yes No[34] Yes Yes Yes
Light Table Plug-in[35] ? No No Yes ?
Metapad Partial[36] No Yes Yes Yes No
mg No Yes[37] No Partial Yes[37] No
MinEd No Yes[38] Yes[38] Yes[39] No Yes
MS-DOS Editor No No No Yes No No
Nano Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
Spell checking Regex-based find & replace Encoding conversion Newline conversion Multiple undo/redo Rectangular block selection
ne No Yes No No Yes Yes
NEdit Plug-in[40] Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Notepad No No No No No No
Notepad++ Yes[41] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notepad2 No Limited[42] Yes Yes Yes Yes
NoteTab Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
nvi No Yes No No Yes ?
Peppermint Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pico Yes No No No Yes No
PolyEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Programmer's Notepad No Yes Yes[43] Yes[43] Yes Yes
PSPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Q10 Yes ? ? ? ? ?
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
RText Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
SciTE No Limited[42] No Yes Yes Yes
skEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Smultron Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Source Insight No Yes No Yes Yes Yes
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[44]
Sublime Text Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
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
Tincta Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
UltraEdit Yes Limited[45] Yes Yes Yes Yes
VEDIT Yes[46] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
vi No Yes No No No No
Vim Yes[47] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Xeditor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XEmacs Plug-in[29] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yi ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes
Spell checking Regex-based find & replace Encoding conversion Newline conversion Multiple undo/redo Rectangular block selection

Programming features

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 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
AkelPad Plug-in Plug-in Plug-in Plug-in Yes Plug-in Plug-in No Plug-in
Alphatk Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Atom Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Plug-in
Aquamacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bluefish Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes[48]
Brackets Yes Yes No 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[49] Yes Yes No No No Yes
Diakonos Yes ? Partial Yes Yes Yes No No No
E Text Editor Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ed No No No No No No No No No
EditPlus Yes Yes[50] Partial[49] Yes Yes Yes[51] Yes No Yes
Editra Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? ?
EmEditor Yes Plug-in Plug-in Yes Yes Plug-in[52] Yes Yes Yes
Geany Yes Yes Yes[53] Yes Yes Yes Partial No Yes
gedit Yes Plug-in Plug-in Yes Yes Plug-in No Plug-in[54] Yes[55]
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Gobby Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No
JED Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
jEdit Yes Plug-in Plug-in 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 Plug-in Plug-in Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Plug-in
KEDIT 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[56]
Light Table Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No Partial[57]
Metapad No No No No Yes No No No No
mined Yes[58] ? 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 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
ne Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No No
NEdit Yes Plug-in Yes Yes Yes Plug-in No No Yes
Notepad No No No No No No No No No
Notepad++ Yes Plug-in Plug-in Yes Yes Yes[59] Yes Yes Yes
Notepad2 Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No
NoteTab Partial[60] ? ? No ? Yes ? ? Yes
nvi No ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Peppermint Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pico No No No No No No No No No
PolyEdit Yes No No No No No No No No
Programmer's Notepad Yes Yes Yes Yes[61] Yes[61] Yes Yes[61] No Yes[61]
PSPad Yes Yes Plug-in Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Q10 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
RText Yes Plug-in No Yes Yes No No No No
SciTE Yes No[62] ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
skEdit Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes No No No
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 Limited
SubEthaEdit Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Sublime Text Yes Yes Plug-in[63] 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 Plug-in Yes Yes Yes[64] Yes Yes No
TextPad Yes No Plug-in[65] Yes Yes No No No Yes
TextWrangler Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Plug-in[66]
The SemWare Editor Yes Yes Plug-in[67] Yes Yes Yes[68] Partial[69] No Yes
UltraEdit Yes Yes Partial[70] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VEDIT Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[71] No No Yes
vi No No Yes Yes No No No No Yes
Vim Yes Plug-in[72] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Xeditor Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
XEmacs Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yi Yes[73] No Yes[74] 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

Notes

Extra features

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[75] Search in files
Acme Yes No Yes No ? ? Yes ?
AkelPad Yes Yes Yes No memory Yes Yes Plug-in
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes[76] No ? ? ? ?
Aquamacs Yes Yes Yes Yes memory ? Yes ?
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes[77] No memory[78] ? Yes Yes
Bluefish No Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes ?
Brackets Yes Yes Extensible No No ? Partial Yes
Coda Yes No Yes[79] Yes ? ? Yes Yes
ConTEXT No Yes Yes No memory[80] ? No ?
Crimson Editor No Yes Yes No No ? No ?
Diakonos No No Yes No ? ? Yes ?
E Text Editor Yes Yes No[81] Yes Yes ? Yes ?
ed No No No No ? ? ? Yes
EditPlus ? Yes Yes No memory ? Yes Yes
Editra ? ? ? ? 2 GB ? ? ?
EmEditor Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? Yes Yes
Geany Yes ? Plug-in ? ? ? Yes Yes
gedit Yes Yes Yes[82] Plug-in No ? No No
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes 2 EB on 64-bit OS[83][84] ? Yes Yes
Gobby ? Yes No Yes ? ? No ?
JED Yes No Yes No memory[85] ? ? ?
jEdit Yes No Yes No No (heap)[86] ? Yes Yes
JOE Yes No Yes No Yes ? ? Yes[87]
JOVE Yes No No No memory ? No No
Kate Yes Yes No No No[88] ? Yes Plug-in
KEDIT Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? Yes ?
Komodo Edit ? ? Yes[89] No ? ? Yes Yes
Komodo IDE ? ? Yes[89] Yes ? ? Yes Yes
KWrite No No No No No[88] ? No ?
LE Yes No No No[90] memory[91] ? Yes ?
Light Table No Yes No No ? ? No Yes
Metapad Yes Yes No No memory[92] ? 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 No ? Yes ?
Notepad Yes Yes No No memory ? No No
Notepad++ Yes Yes Yes with plug-in No[93] ? Yes Yes
Notepad2 No No No No memory[94] ? No ?
NoteTab ? ? Yes ? No ? Yes[95] ?
nvi Yes No No ? ? ? ? ?
Peppermint Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pico ? ? ? No ? ? ? ?
PolyEdit Yes Yes No No Yes ? Yes ?
Programmer's Notepad No Yes Yes[82] No slow[96] ? Yes Yes
PSPad Yes Yes Yes No memory[97] ? with plug-in Yes
Q10 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes No No ? Yes ?
RText No No Yes No No ? Yes ?
SciTE ? ? Yes No No ? No Yes
skEdit Yes Yes No Yes[98] ? ? ? ?
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes No 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[99] ? Yes Yes
TextWrangler Yes Yes Yes No memory[78] ? Yes ?
The SemWare Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Only in special DOS multi-user version 2 GB Yes ? Yes
UltraEdit Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
VEDIT Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? Yes Yes
vi Yes No Yes No aprox. 65 MB ? Yes Yes
Vim Yes Yes Yes with plug-in memory[100] ? Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes Yes on 64-bit OS[83] ? 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 GB (LFS) 2 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.[101]

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

Support for custom key bindings.

Text editor support for key bindings.
Dynamically customizable IBM CUA OS X Vi Emacs Pico WordStar WordPerfect Brief
Acme No ? No No No No ? ? ?
AkelPad Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Alphatk ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Aquamacs Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
BBEdit[102][103] Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Bluefish Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Brackets Yes Partial Yes Plug-in Plug-in No No No No
Coda Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
ConTEXT ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Crimson Editor ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Diakonos Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
E Text Editor ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
ed No No No No No No No No No
EditPlus Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Editra No No No Yes No No No No No
EmEditor Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
epsilon Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? Yes
Geany Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
gedit Yes[104] ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial[105] Yes[106] Yes[107] Yes[107]
Gobby No ? No No No No ? ? ?
JED Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes
jEdit Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ?
JOE[108] Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No No
JOVE Yes No No No Yes No Yes[109] No No
LE Yes ? ? No ? ? ? ? ?
Light Table Yes Partial ? Plug-in Plug-in ? ? ? ?
Kate Yes No No Yes[110] No No No No No
KEDIT Yes ? No No No No ? ? ?
Komodo Edit Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Komodo IDE Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
KWrite Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Metapad ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
mg ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
mined ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ?
MS-DOS Editor No No No No No No No No No
Nano Yes No ? ? Partial[111] Yes No ? ?
NEdit Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Notepad No Yes No No No No No No No
Notepad++ Partial Yes No No No No No No No
Notepad2 No ? No No No No ? ? ?
NoteTab ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
nvi ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ?
Peppermint Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Pico No No No No Partial[111] Yes No No No
PolyEdit ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Programmer's Notepad Partial ? ? Partial[112] ? ? ? ? ?
PSPad Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Q10 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
RJ TextEd Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
RText Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
SciTE Partial[113] ? ? No No No ? ? ?
skEdit ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
SlickEdit Yes[114] Yes Yes[115] Partial[116] Yes No No No Yes
Smultron ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Source Insight Yes ? No No No No ? ? ?
SubEthaEdit ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sublime Text Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
TED Notepad ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
TextEdit No ? Yes No No No ? ? ?
TextMate ? ? Yes No No No ? ? ?
TextPad Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
TextWrangler[102][117] Yes ? Yes No Yes No ? ? ?
The SemWare Editor Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
UltraEdit Yes ? No ? ? ? ? ? ?
VEDIT Yes Yes No No[118] No No Yes Yes Yes
vi Yes No No Yes No No No No No
Vim Partial Plug-in[119] ? Yes[120] Partial[121] ? ? ? ?
XEmacs Yes No No Yes Yes Partial[105] ? ? ?
Yi Yes ? Yes Yes Yes No ? ? ?
Dynamically customizable IBM CUA OS X Vi Emacs Pico WordStar WordPerfect Brief

Notes, bugs

Protocol support

Support for editing files over a network or the internet.

Text editor support for remote file editing over Internet Protocols
FTP HTTP SSH WebDAV
Acme Yes Yes Yes Yes
AkelPad No No No No
Alphatk Yes No No Yes
Aquamacs Yes Yes Yes Yes[122]
BBEdit Yes No Yes No
Bluefish Yes Yes Yes Yes
Brackets Plug-in No No No
Coda Yes Yes Yes Yes
ConTEXT [123] No] ? [124] No] ?
Crimson Editor Yes No No No
Diakonos No No No No
E Text Editor Yes No No No
ed No No No No
EditPlus Yes 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
Gobby No No No No
JED No No No No
jEdit Plug-in[125] Yes[126] Plug-in[125] 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 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++ Plug-in for FTP, FTPS, FTPES, SFTP No Plug-in No
Notepad2 No No No No
NoteTab [127] No] ? [128] No] ?
nvi No No No No
Peppermint Yes No Yes No
Pico No No No No
PolyEdit No No No No
Programmer's Notepad No No No No
PSPad Yes No No No
Q10 ? ? ? ?
RJ TextEd FTP, SFTP] No Yes No
RText No No No No
SciTE No No No No
skEdit Yes No Yes Yes
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes No
Smultron Yes ? ? ?
Source Insight No No No No
SubEthaEdit Yes No No No
TED Notepad [129] No] ? [130] No] ?
TextEdit No No No No
TextMate Yes[122] No No No
TextPad No No No No
TextWrangler {{Yes[131] FTP,SFTP]}} 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 Plug-in[132] Plug-in[132] Plug-in[132] Plug-in[132]
Xeditor No Yes No No
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes ?
Yi No No No No
FTP HTTP SSH WebDAV

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.

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.

Text editor support for some of the most common character encodings
ASCII ISO-8859 DOS (OEM) EBCDIC UTF-8 UTF-16
Acme Yes ? ? ? Yes No
AkelPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Alphatk Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
Aquamacs Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bluefish Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Brackets Yes No No No Yes No
Coda Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
ConTEXT Yes Yes Partial[133] No No No
Crimson Editor Yes Yes Partial[133] No Partial No
Diakonos Yes ? ? ? Partial No
E Text Editor Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
ed Yes ? ? ? Yes No
EditPlus Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes
Editra Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
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 Yes
Gobby Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
JED Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No
jEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
JOE Yes ? ? ? Yes No
JOVE Yes No No No No No
LE Yes ? ? ? Yes No
Kate Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
KEDIT Yes Yes Partial[133] No No No
Komodo Edit Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
Komodo IDE Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
KWrite Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
Metapad Yes Yes Partial[133] No No No
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 Partial[133] No Yes Yes
Notepad++ Yes Yes No Plug-in? Yes Yes
Notepad2 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
NoteTab Yes ? Yes Yes Partial[134] Partial[134]
nvi Yes ? ? ? Yes[135] No
Peppermint Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
Pico Yes No No No Yes No
PolyEdit Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
Programmer's Notepad Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
PSPad Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
Q10 ? ? ? ? ? ?
RJ TextEd Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
RText Yes Yes Yes Yes[136] Yes Yes
SciTE[137] Yes No No No Yes Yes
skEdit Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Smultron Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
Source Insight Yes ? ? ? No No
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Sublime Text Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
TED Notepad Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
TextEdit Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
TextMate Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
TextPad Yes ? ? ? Partial[138] Partial[138]
TextWrangler Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
The SemWare Editor Yes Yes[139] Partial[133] Plug-in No No
UltraEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VEDIT Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial[140] Partial[140]
vi Yes ? ? ? Yes No
Vim Yes Yes Yes No[141] Yes Yes
Xeditor ? ? ? ? Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes ? ? Yes[142] Yes
Yi Yes ? ? ? Yes No
ASCII ISO-8859 DOS (OEM) EBCDIC UTF-8 UTF-16

Right-to-left and bidirectional text

Support for Right-To-Left (RTL) texts is necessary for editing some languages like Arabic, Persian,Yiddish and Hebrew 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 LTR 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 ? ?
Aquamacs ? ?
Atom No No
BBEdit No No
Bluefish Yes Yes
Brackets ? ?
Coda ? ?
ConTEXT ? ?
Crimson Editor ? ?
Diakonos ? ?
E Text Editor ? ?
ed ? ?
EditPlus No No
Editra ? ?
EmEditor No No
Geany ? ?
gedit Yes Yes
GNU Emacs Yes Yes
Gobby ? ?
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[143] Yes[143]
Nano ? ?
RTL Bidi
NEdit ? ?
Notepad Yes Yes
Notepad++ Yes Yes[144]
Notepad2 No No
NoteTab ? ?
nvi ? ?
Peppermint No No
Pico ? ?
PolyEdit ? ?
Programmer's Notepad No No
PSPad ? ?
Q10 ? ?
RJ TextEd Yes Yes
RText ? ?
SciTE No No
skEdit ? ?
SlickEdit ? ?
Smultron ? ?
Source Insight No No
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes
Sublime Text No No
TED Notepad ? ?
TextEdit Yes Yes
TextMate No No
TextPad ? ?
TextWrangler No No
The SemWare Editor No No
UltraEdit No No
VEDIT ? ?
vi ? ?
Vim Yes through terminal support
Xeditor Yes Yes
XEmacs ? ?
Yi ? ?
RTL Bidi

Newline support

Support for newline characters in line endings
Windows (CR/LF) Unix & Mac OS X[145] (LF) Mac OS 9 (CR)
Acme Yes Yes Yes
AkelPad Yes Yes Yes
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes
Aquamacs Yes Yes Yes
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
Diakonos ? Yes ?
E Text Editor Yes Yes Yes
ed No Yes No
EditPlus Yes Yes Yes
Editra Yes Yes Yes
EmEditor Yes Yes Yes
Geany Yes Yes Yes
gedit Yes Yes Yes
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes
Gobby Yes Yes Yes
JED Yes Yes Yes
jEdit Yes Yes Yes
JOE[146] 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
Notepad2 Yes Yes Yes
NoteTab Yes Yes Yes
nvi ? Yes ?
Peppermint Yes Yes Yes
Pico Yes Yes Yes
PolyEdit Yes Yes Yes
Programmer's Notepad Yes Yes Yes
PSPad Yes Yes Yes
Q10 Yes Yes Yes
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
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
Xeditor Yes Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes
Yi ? Yes ?
Windows (CR/LF) Unix (including OS X) (LF) Mac OS (CR)

See also

Notes and references

  1. Some pre-built packages (deb and rpm)
  2. "Epsilon version 13".
  3. GEdit, when installed from MacPorts, runs in X11 and, therefore, does not have a native look and feel. However, precompiled native OS X binaries for GEdit may be downloaded from the GEdit project page, or from the GEdit FTP download server.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Requires Cygwin to run on Windows.
  5. Does Kate/KWrite run on windows? Kate and KWrite run on Windows using Cygwin.
  6. 1 2 gedit, NEdit, and SciTE run in the X11 window environment, and therefore do not use the native Aqua look-and-feel when running on OS X.
  7. "JOE - Joe's own editor". JOE - Joe's own editor / Mercurial / [2e4f45] /po. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  8. "KDE Localization - Apps » stable » kate.po".
  9. "Metapad language plugins".
  10. "SciTE in languages other than English".
  11. hindi in vim forum
  12. gedit supports single document window splitting via plug-ins. .
  13. gedit supports multiple document window splitting via plug-ins. .
  14. GNU Emacs can use a tabbed document interface in a non OS-native way, using the tabbar plug-in.
  15. GNU Emacs can support a tabbed document interface modelled after GNU Screen using the elscreen package.
  16. 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.
  17. mined supports Copy/Paste between multiple documents in separate windows, when these documents are in separate terminal windows
  18. SciTE has a maximum number of buffers, which can only be set as high as 100.
  19. Vim Provided GVim is used.
  20. Vim version 7 supports a tabbed document interface. Earlier versions can emulate tabs through scripts, for example TabBar.
  21. ConTEXT does not support regular expression backreferences in its search and replace function.
  22. ConTEXT only supports converting text to UTF-16. Also, it can only use one type of new-line format if converting to UTF-16.
  23. Diakonos supports spell checking by calling the external program aspell.
  24. e supports spell checking via a bundle command available at the e Bundles repository.
  25. Geany supports spell checking via a plug-in, but not for Windows at the moment.
  26. gedit supports spell checking via a plug-in, which is distributed with gedit.
  27. gedit supports Regex-based find & replace via plug-ins ().
  28. "Gedit/Plugins/ColumnMode - GNOME Wiki!".
  29. 1 2 Emacs supports spell checking via the external programs ispell, aspell, or Hunspell.
  30. jEdit supports spell checking via an external plug-in.
  31. JOE supports spell checking via the ispell or aspell external plug-ins.
  32. JOE uses a non-standard regular expression syntax.
  33. 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.
  34. LE can pipe text through the GNU recode(1) utility
  35. https://github.com/rschroll/lt-spelling
  36. Metapad spell checking by calling external program Aspell.
  37. 1 2 http://openbsd.su/src/usr.bin/mg/re_search.c
  38. 1 2 mined supports multiple lines in search and replacement expressions.
  39. 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.
  40. NEdit supports spell checking via a plug-in
  41. Notepad++ 6.3.3 and above support spell checking via the DSpellCheck plug-in, which is included with the default package.
  42. 1 2 Scintilla-based editors such as SciTE, Notepad2 and Notepad++ do not support alternation (|) in regular expressions.
  43. 1 2 Programmer's Notepad 2.
  44. SubEthaEdit supports advanced block editing, including multi-line typing and non-contiguous block selections.
  45. UltraEdit uses the Boost C++ regex library. While Boost supports backreferences past \9 with \g{10}, UltraEdit has not yet implemented this feature.
  46. 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.
  47. Vim version 7 supports spell checking natively. Earlier versions require a script shown here.
  48. bluefish: Configurable via the outputbox feature.
  49. 1 2 With external tool OpenCTags
  50. editplus: Opens in a window, not really integrated.
  51. editplus: Enabled by editing the corresponding .acp file.
  52. EmEditor Professional supports Auto Complete via plug-ins (32-bit or 64-bit).
  53. Geany uses its own tags file format, not compatible with ctags, see the manual.
  54. gedit-folding: Folding plug-in for Gedit
  55. gedit: Compiler integration: Functionality in plug-ins installed with gedit.
  56. make can be launched from the LE text editor, but the output is not captured
  57. Evaluates expressions in some dynamic languages such as Clojure, Python and Javascript in realtime
  58. mined: Syntax highlighting: HTML/XML, Javascript, JSP.
  59. Notepad++: Auto complete: Supported via supplied/user-created lists.
  60. NoteTab: Syntax highlighting only for html documents and NoteTab clip/scripts.
  61. 1 2 3 4 Programmer's Notepad 2
  62. Function list (and stuff) available in Ru-Board build, ver 1.79.66Ru and later
  63. Available from an add-on ()
  64. TextMate: Auto complete: Supported language bundles
  65. Textpad uses an add-on ()
  66. 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.
  67. TSE uses a macro
  68. The Semware Editor: Auto complete: Supported via supplied/user-created lists.
  69. The Semware Editor: Text folding: Compressed view possible.
  70. Not in the Linux version.
  71. Vedit: Auto complete: Template editing, plus 3rd party macro for expanding symbols from tags database.
  72. Vim has a popular TagList plug-in that provides a function list.
  73. unlike most editors that use regexps or ad hoc parsing, Yi" uses an algorithm of incremental parsing to dynamically update the syntax highlighiting
  74. currently supports only haskell with hasktags -c
  75. Multi-line regex support Support for expressions spanning several lines (e.g. "\n\n(.+)\n\n")
  76. Alpha Macro support via AppleScript, Tcl or text factories.
  77. BBEdit Macro support via AppleScript, Perl, Python, Lasso, shell scripts or text factories.
  78. 1 2 BBEdit and TextWrangler are technically capable of any size file, but limited practically by RAM and OS X limitation to files = 384mb. Cf. BBEdit FAQ Entry 36.
  79. Coda offers macros via AppleScript, text "clips," or plug-ins (Cocoa apps or any installed scripting language).
  80. ConTEXT claims Large File Support but load time is proportional to file size and a 1 GB file gave an Out of Memory error.
  81. e Macro support via Cygwin and languages like Ruby, Python, or Perl.
  82. 1 2 Cssed Macro support via Python.
  83. 1 2 Emacs: 64-bit compilation on 64-bit OS can handle 2 GB files, otherwise the limit is 512 MiB.
  84. "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.
  85. "The JED Editor" (PDF).
  86. jEdit: Limited by Java heap size. jedit-users forum
  87. "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.
  88. 1 2 kwrite-devel, Large Files open slowly due to futile Syntax-Highlighting
  89. 1 2 "Macros".
  90. LE text editor locks the file and warns if someone else has changed the file
  91. LE text editor can view and edit large files or their parts in mmap-shared mode
  92. metapad FAQ, Loading Large Files
  93. "Question Defense, Windows: File Is To Big To Be Opened By NotePad++, Use Wordpad As Alternative".
  94. "Notepad2 -- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)".
  95. NoteTab: Standard and Pro versions only.
  96. Programmer's Notepad LFS, but not optimized. Editing is too slow to be useful.
  97. "PSPad Forum".
  98. skEdit Macro support via SCM plug-ins.
  99. "mozillaZine: Edit large mbox files".
  100. 2GB with 32 Bits, on a 64 Bit system it depends on the available virtual memory.
  101. Comparison of Windows Text Editors for Large Files: Text editors for large files
  102. 1 2 "Bare Bones Software | BBEdit Comparison Chart".
  103. "Bare Bones Software | Features (BBEdit)".
  104. It is possible to customize all Gedit shortcuts because it is Gtk based.
  105. 1 2 pico uses most of Emacs's motion and deletion commands: ^F ^B ^P ^N ^D etc. See Pico: A Unix text editor retrieved 2012-01-09.
  106. GNU Emacs comes with Wordstar emulation, with the command M-x wordstar-mode, as found in the latest download from GNU Project Archives retrieved 2012-01-09. Found in file ws-mode.el ZZ see also the "Emulation" section of the GNU Emacs manual.
  107. 1 2 http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Emulation.html
  108. "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 […].
  109. "Usenet - megalextoria".
  110. Kate supports an optional VI Input Mode.
  111. 1 2 pico (and nano) uses most of Emacs's motion and deletion commands: ^F ^B ^P ^N ^D etc. See Pico: A Unix text editor retrieved 2012-01-09.
  112. Programmer's Notepad: Partial VI key bindings supported via PyPN plug-in and Command Mode.
  113. In SciTE, custom keystrokes may be assigned to Lua scripts, external programs or lexers (highlighters).
  114. SlickEdit provides emulation of VisualStudio, Visual C++ 6, CodeWright, Epsilon and ISPF key bindings in addition to those given in the table.
  115. SlickEdit supports CodeWarrior, Xcode and BBEdit key binding emulation.
  116. SlickEdit includes support of vi key bindings, the ex command line and some, but not all Vim extensions.
  117. "Bare Bones Software | Features (TextWrangler".
  118. Vedit: Old Unix and QNX versions could emulate Vi 100%. Windows version doesn't come with vi emulation.
  119. cua-mode.vim
  120. Vim emulates vi keys fully when in 'compatible' mode
  121. Vim With a script such as Vimacs
  122. 1 2 Aquamacs Supported via a OS X mounted volume.
  123. [http://www.contexteditor.org/features.html
  124. [http://www.contexteditor.org/features.html
  125. 1 2 jEdit FTP and SFTP are supported via the FTP plug-in.
  126. jEdit: "HTTP is supported natively"
  127. [http://www.notetab.com/chart.php
  128. [http://www.notetab.com/chart.php
  129. [http://jsimlo.sk/notepad/manual/
  130. [http://jsimlo.sk/notepad/manual/
  131. |[http://barebones.com/products/textwrangler/featuresutility.html
  132. 1 2 3 4 Vim Supported via netrw plug-in distributed in the standard Vim installation.
  133. 1 2 3 4 5 6 when choosing e.g. Terminal font
  134. 1 2 Although NoteTab is not a native Unicode editor, you can open, edit, convert, and save such files reliably as long as all the text fits within a single ANSI code page supported by Windows.
  135. nvi Gentoo
  136. RText supports EBCDIC n z/OS and anywhere with a JVM that supports it
  137. SciTE can open files in UTF or one single-byte encoding specified in a configuration file.
  138. 1 2 TextPad can load and save UTF-8 and UTF-16 text files, but cannot use or even preserve characters outside of the system encoding.
  139. when choosing e.g. New Courier font
  140. 1 2 Vedit can convert UTF-8 and UTF-16 files to Windows character set and back. Characters not included in Windows charset can be preserved.
  141. Vim supports EBCDIC when compiled on a system that uses the EBCDIC character set.
  142. from version 21.5.29
  143. 1 2 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
  144. Notepadpp: Scintilla (Notepad++'s Engine) does not really support bidirectional editing. https://sourceforge.net/p/scintilla/bugs/757/#01c9
  145. "Did Mac OS Lion switch to using line feeds (LF '\n') for line breaks instead of carriage returns (CR '\r')?".
  146. "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.
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