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Add to SafariWhen comparing Notepad++ vs Crimson Editor, the Slant community recommends Notepad++ for most people. In the question“What are the best simple text editors for Windows?” Notepad++ is ranked 1st while Crimson Editor is ranked 27th. The most important reason people chose Notepad++ is:
Notepad++ has built-in support for syntax highlighting for a wide selection of programming languages.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Syntax highlighting for a wide variety of languages
Notepad++ has built-in support for syntax highlighting for a wide selection of programming languages.
Pro Light and fast
Notepad++ is a very light program that starts almost instantly. This makes it a great text editor for users that want something that will start the second they open it.
Pro Extendable via plugins
A list of hundreds of plugins is maintained.
Pro Portable
You can get a portable version of N++ and put it on a flash drive or your dropbox account and have your editor, configured the way you like, at any computer that you are on.
Pro Free under GPL
Notepad++ is licensed under GPL, which means it is free/open source software that you can use freely.
Pro Regex replace in selection, active tab, or all tabs
In Notepad++, the user can utilise regular expressions to quickly modify text across multiple files.
Pro Persistent documents, even after exiting the application
If you close Notepad++ (npp), your documents remain even if you haven't saved.
Pro User defined language syntax support
You can define your own custom syntax highlighting rules (or add support for others) .
Pro Easy to use and admin
Very easy to use and personalize.
Pro Multi-line editing
While it is disabled by default, when enabled, it is possible to edit more than one line at a time. This is helpful in many situations.
Pro Split screen
The user can open and edit files in multiple screens within the editor window.
Pro Supports Markdown
If you have the Plugin Manager installed you can search for MarkdownViewer++ and install it via that plugin.
Pro Project/Folder/Output pane
It can create a project that will be stored in a prj file, which is a text file that can be edited and used across systems. The folder pane navigation is limited to each disk drive. The output pane can be used to capture compilers or other exe's output, and also shows search output while searching in multiple files. You can just click on any line and it then opens the corresponding file in a new tab and shows you the needed line.
Pro Open last working files on start
Can open with all last worked documents - remembers all file positions.
Pro Free software
Pro Regular expressions support
Find and replace (multifile) allowed with support for regular expressions also.
Pro Macro editing
Repetitive lines or words can be recorded as a macro, kept and recalled when needed, since it is permanently stored (up to 11 macros).
Pro Spell check
Pro Return to last edit
Return to last edit option is very good during coding, where we can lose track of where we were.
Pro Column mode
The column mode editing trick, which we could do in MS Office (with ALT + mouse key), is also available.
Pro Very lightweight
Pro Can make a project and configure hot keys to call system commands to make it an IDE
Pro The text window can be split into two or four parts
Pro Custom syntax along with many known syntax and multi level key highlighting
Pro Supports tabs
Supports any number of tabs
Cons
Con Windows-only
While it can run in Wine, it is native only to Windows. Linux users will have to use Notepadqq instead.
Con Settings confusingly scattered
Examples: try to change the tab size or used font.
Con Annoying update notifications upon start-up
Annoying update notifications tend to pop up upon start-up after not having used the app or machine for a few days. At the same time, they can be easily turned off.
Con Outdated UI
Only the text area can be themed, and it doesn't have as many features as browser-based text areas.
Con Limited new syntax support for new languages
It may be hard to find good plugins for relatively new languages.
Con Session backups not enabled by default
Unsaved tabs will be lost when Npp crashes, unless you first enable the session backup option.
Con User defined language doesn't support triple quote strings
It also doesn't support triple hashed comments. Both styles are overridden by their single character single line version.
Con Doesn't support dragging and dropping text
Con Further development not happening with the Emerald Community
Con Bookmarks are not permanent
Bookmarks are lost when a file is closed - just like any other editor.
