When comparing Textpad vs Textastic, the Slant community recommends Textpad for most people. In the question“What are the best programming text editors?” Textpad is ranked 32nd while Textastic is ranked 45th. The most important reason people chose Textpad is:
Textpad can handle large text files very quickly.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Highly efficient
Textpad can handle large text files very quickly.
Pro Fast and features macros
Text Pad is fast and supports macros for easy handling of repetitive tasks.
Pro Large number of syntax highlighting add-ons
It's easy to add a new syntax highlighted language to TextPad.
Pro Search and Replace
Excellent regex functions to manipulate data in large text based (csv, php, etc) files.
Pro Easy to get started, especially for Java
When you require a minimal learning curve and a quick start to writing code, TextPad is one of the best choices. Especially for small Java projects, TextPad is the go-to editor.
Pro iOS version available
Pro Supports 80 source code and markup languages
Textastic has support for several script and markup languages.
Pro Very fast
There's no need for hundreds of modules to be loaded on every start of Textastic. It's perfect for the fast editing of files.
Pro Supports online sync
Textastic can sync with iCloud documents.
Pro Code completion
Cons
Con Macros are not editable
Con No bold/italics
Con Disappointing keyboard shortcuts
The keyboard shortcuts in Textpad are a little dated.
Con Mac only
Textastic is for Mac only.
Con Proprietary
Textastic is a proprietary software and needs a license which costs $7.99.