Windows and macOS come pre-installed with a program that can open and edit text files. It's called TextEdit on Macs and Notepad on Windows, but neither are quite as advanced as some of the third-party applications that are available today.
Best Text Editors for Mac in 2018: Top 5 Text Editor Apps for Mac OS X. Here is the list of best text editors for Mac Os. Apps with their pros and cons are listed in the article in precise points. Atom Text Editor has joined the list of best text editors for Mac and has already left its mark in being quite capable and powerful tool. Atom too is a free and open source text editing tool and is maintained through one of the well-known repository – GitHub. The 10 best free HTML editors for Windows. Each is rated by types of users, and both text and WYSIWYG editors covered. Updated as of November 2018. 10 Best HTML Code Editor for Mac, OR in 2018 (from $0). (Free) An open-source text editor, it’s main feature is the real-time feedback allowing instant execution.
Most of the text editors below need to be downloaded to your computer before you can use them, but all of them provide their own unique set of features that set them apart from the default software programs that come with Windows and Mac.
Why Use a Text Editor?
A text editor lets you open a file as a text document, something that can be useful for a number of reasons:
- Create a file from scratch using a specific programming language, like an HTML or CSS file for use on a website
- Edit or build files that end with the TXT, REG, XML, CSV, ASP, BAT, AU3, PHP, AHK, SVG, or JS file extension, among many others
- View the text version of a file that you don't know the format for
- Quickly remove formatting like bold, custom font types, URL hyperlinks, etc.
If you just need a super quick way to strip the formatting from some text, try this online text editor. To make a .TXT file online without downloading a program, try Edit Pad.
of 04
Notepad++
What We Like
- Tabbed interface
- Automatically restores recently opened, unsaved files
- Auto-completes as you write
- Includes tons of really helpful features like macros, syntax highlighting, and plugins
- Opens basically any file as a text document
- There's a portable version available
Notepad++ is the best alternative notepad application for Windows computers. It’s really easy to use for basic users who just need a text file opener or editor but also includes some really advanced features for those interested.
This program uses tabbed browsing which means you can open multiple documents at once and they'll display at the top of Notepad++ as tabs. While each tab represents its own file, Notepad++ can interact with all of them at once to do things like compare files for differences and search for or replace text.
Probably the easiest way to edit files with Notepad++ is to right-click the file and choose Edit with Notepad++ from the context menu.
This program can open nearly any file as a text document and supports lots of helpful plugins. It also includes a really handy text search/replace function, highlights syntax automatically, auto-completes words, and is the best offline text file converter.
The Notepad++ Find option lets you search for words with criteria like backward direction, match whole word only, match case, and wrap around. Mac start an app by name.
Also supported is bookmarking, macros, auto-backup, multi-page searching, resumed sessions, read-only mode, encoding conversions, and the ability to search for words on Wikipedia and quickly open the document in your web browser.
Notepad++ also supports plugins to do things like auto-save open documents, merge all the text from open documents into one main file, align programming code, monitor open documents to refresh them as they change, copy and paste more than one item from the clipboard at once, and lots more.
Notepad++ lets you save text documents to a huge variety of formats like TXT, CSS, ASM, AU3, BASH, BAT, HPP, CC, DIFF, HTML, REG, HEX, JAVA, SQL, VBS, and many others.
Notepad++ works with Windows only, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. You can also grab a portable version of Notepad++ from the download page; one is in the ZIP format and the other is a 7Z file.
of 04
Brackets
What We Like
- Perfect for an uncluttered, minimal working space
- Supports split-screen editing
- Includes code-specific syntax highlighting
- Can view updates for some files live in your web browser
- Lets you use keyboard shortcuts
- Works on Windows, Linux, and macOS
- Plugins are supported to add extra features
What We Don't Like
- Built mainly for people with code development in mind, so most of the features are centered around project files, displaying code, etc.
Brackets is a free text editor that's primarily meant for web designers, but can of course be used by anyone to view or edit a text document.
The interface is extremely clean and modern and feels really easy to use despite all of its advanced settings. In fact, nearly all of the options are hidden away from plain site so that it's easy for anyone to use, which also provides an extremely open UI for editing.
Code writers might like that Brackets highlights syntax, can split the screen to edit more than one document simultaneously, lets you click one No Distractions button for a really simple interface, and supports lots of keyboard shortcuts so that you can quickly indent, duplicate, move between lines, toggle line and block comments, show or hide code hints, and more.
You can quickly change the file type you're working with to instantly change syntax highlighting rules, as well as change the encoding of the file if you need to.
If you're editing a CSS or HTML file, you can enable the Live Preview option to watch the page update in real time in your web browser as you make changes to the file.
The Working Files area is where you can open all of the files that belong to a single project, and quickly move between them without leaving Brackets.
Some examples of plugins you can use in Brackets includes one to support W3C validation, Ungit to make it easier to use Git, an HTML tag menu, and Python tools.
Brackets comes installed with both a dark and a light theme that you can change at any time, but there are dozens of others that you can install through the Extensions Manager.
Brackets is available as a DEB, MSI, and DMG file for use in Linux, Windows, and macOS, respectively.
of 04
Komodo Edit
What We Like
- Very attractive and modern interface
- You can make virtual projects to bring together files from various locations
- Supports unique features not found in similar text editors
- Changing the interface setup is easy with one click
- The tabbed interface is easy to work with
- Runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows
What We Don't Like
- It's a bit complex — even with its minimal UI — for people who want just a simple text editor
Komodo Edit is another free text editor with a super clear and minimal design that still manages to pack some awesome features.
Various view modes are included so that you can quickly open or close specific windows. One is “Focus Mode” to hide all of the open windows and just display the editor, and the others show/hide things like folders, the syntax checker results, and notifications.
This program makes it very easy to open text documents even while one is currently open. At the very top of the program is the path to the currently opened file, and you can select the arrow next to any folder to get a list of files, any of which will open as a new tab in Komodo Edit if you select it.
The folder views off to the side of Komodo Edit are also really useful since they let you browse through the file system as well as create virtual projects that link folders and files together to better organize what you need to work on.
A unique feature in Komodo Edit is the area at the upper-left side of the program that lets you not only undo and redo like most programs, but also go back to the previous cursor location, as well as go forward to return to where you just were.
Here are some other Komodo Edit features worth noting:
- Can connect to a remote FTP server to open and/or save files
- Supports bookmarking specific areas of the document
- Lets you switch to a huge number of file types to highlight syntax differently and to save under that format
- The 'Go to Anything' search box lets you search for files to open, install add-ons, run scripts and commands, open menus, install other languages, change the color scheme, and more
- Recently closed tabs and files are easy to re-open
- Lets you preview files in a web browser
- Templates can be built out of existing files
- A 'Watch File' option can open a document in a new window for reference withouting being added to the tabbed list of files you're editing
- Records macros that can be played back to repeat things
This text editor works with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
of 04
Visual Studio Code
What We Like
- Whole folders can be opened at once to open all of the text files
- A minimal interface is just one click away
- Supports tabs for easy file tracking
- Includes a debugger; perfect for source code editing
What We Don't Like
- Centered primarily around editing and debugging code, so it could be too much for the average user
- Settings are difficult to change
Visual Studio Code is a free text editor that's used primarily as a source code editor.
The program is extremely minimal and even has a 'Zen Mode' option one click away that immediately hides all the menus and windows, and maximizes the program to fill the whole screen.
The tabbed browsing interface seen with other text editors is supported in Visual Studio Code as well, which makes it really easy to work with multiple documents at once.
You can also open entire folders of files at once if you're working on a project, and even save the project for easy retrieval later.
However, this text editor probably isn't ideal unless you plan to use it for programming purposes. There are entire sections dedicated to debugging code, viewing command outputs, managing source control providers, and even using a built-in Command Prompt.
The settings are also not as intuitive to adjust since you have to modify them using the text editor; the settings are entirely text-based.
Philips hue desktop app mac. Here are some features you might find useful in this program:
- You can open whole folders at once from the right-click context menu
- A 'Change All Occurrences' option makes it easy to select and edit text you want to change throughout the entire document in one sweep
- Similar is the 'Rename Refactoring' option to change the name of a symbol in every instance of it across all the documents in your project
- Opening recently closed documents is easy since they're listed in the same place
- The 'IntelliSense' feature helps to automatically fill in code based on surrounding text and the location of the cursor in the document
- Files can be auto-saved if you turn the option on
- A document can quickly be reverted back to the state it was in when you last saved it
- The editing space can be split into multiple windows for side-by-side reading and editing
- Dozens of keyboard shortcuts are allowed and fully editable, such as one to copy/paste an entire line of code directly above or below the current position
- You can change the color theme of the program as well as the theme of icons
- Extensions can be installed to add more features to Visual Studio Code, such as one to debug JavaScript code in the Chrome browser and another to run programming code directly from the text editor
- When searching for text strings, you can define whether to match the case and/or the whole word
Visual Studio Code can be installed on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.
Choosing the right or Best text editor is a Necessity of every beginner and good programmer. Having a good code/text editor decides how your journey will be as a beginner programmer. Because code can be written on the notepad so what’s the big deal with Text/code editors, so let us tell you how:
If you wrote a script of 2000 lines and then you instantly run your script but got an error message saying error in line 1024. The thing is that, the term “how you gonna solve the error” comes after but the initial step is how you are going to find the line of error, that is one of the very basic things which makes you use such editors, they give you very quick navigations, makes the map of code with all closing and opening tags, you can easily identify and understand the code. It heps you writing code by identifying the function names just with few initial alphabets when you type them and so on. It basically makes reduce the chances of common errors in code writing and helps you to write error-free code.
Text editors have such ability to recognize, what is variable or function and Accordingly it shows them in different colors and this is just a basic feature about code editor, you will find lot more after checking the list below. Not even for beginners it helps pro programmers to code nicely and expedites. The best part about code editors is, it almost supports all languages so you don’t have to worry, you just have to create a file with proper extension.
Now without wasting your time let’s jump into the top 10 best Text editors list:
Sublime Text
Sublime text editor
It’s a well-turned and sophisticated text editors for writing good quality and error free code. It has Multiple selections that allow you to interactively change many lines at once, rename variables with ease, and manipulate files faster than ever. It just natively supports many programming and markup languages. You can also add more functions just by using its plugin.
Sublime Text gives you such powerful python based API with Python console to interactively experiment in real time. It is a lightweight text editor which supports on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It has launched three versions so far with exclusive code writing features.
Features of Sublime Text
- Almost everything in Sublime Text is customizable with simple JSON files.
- Powerful Python based plugin API to experiment in real time.
- Available for OS X, Windows, and Linux.
- Make multiple changes at the same time.
- Multi-platform supported.
- Full-screen mode to get rid of pop-up notification and to concentrate on Code writing.
Atom
If you are one of those who doesn’t like restrictions on their work/programming then this is the right text editor for you. Atom is a fully customizable text editor, so you can do anything with it by choosing different packages to add new functionality and features to it. So it’s kind of more open source for you to add desired functions on it which just basically means adding functions to make your coding more convenient.
You don’t have to worry about which platform you are using if you are willing to use this text editor because it works on Windows, Mac, and Linux as well.
Features of Atom
- Autocompletion during writing code to help you write code faster and flexibly.
- File system browser to Easily browse and open a single file, a whole project, or multiple projects in one window.
- Compare and edit code across different files by using multiple panes.
- Atom Works across operating systems( OS X, Windows, or Linux).
- Find and replace any text in a single file or the whole project.
- Installation of new packages according to your need.
Coda
Coda is one of the paid text editors for Mac. Because it’s specialized for Mac so it has so many features that would like to try if you are a Mac user.
Best Text Editor On Mac
Syntax highlighting on Coda is much faster than any other text editor. You can preview your code in real-time. Coda has too many rich utilities that make your work better.
Features of Coda
- It has side-wide autocompletion of variables, classes, functions, it all done with the help of by local indexed files.
- You can edit and preview the site CSS in real time.
- Track and publish files modified outside of Coda.
- Manage existing plugins or discover new by Coda’s plugin preferences.
- Easy and fast switching between tabs.
Notepad++
Notepad++ is a free source text editor that helps to write programs in an easy way. It has such powerful editing component Scintilla, it helps and supports during editing, debugging code indicates errors and much more. This text editor is purely written in C++. It uses pure Win32 API and STL which ensures a higher execution speed and smaller program size for every code you write. You can change the editor language to your native language just by downloading and updating the XML file. The best part which every programmer likes about notepad++ is that it is one of the very lightweight software with extreme features.
Features of NOtepad++
- Very lightweight and starts rapidly.
- Macro recording and playback support.
- Multi-Document or Tab interface to work on multiple tabs.
- You can Launch it with different arguments.
- Auto completion on words, functions, parameters with hints.
- Zoom-in and out.
- Syntax highlighting and folding.
- You can add Bookmarks for future concerns.
Vim Text Editor
Vim is a powerful and portable text editor. With its bunch of advanced features, you can handle it pretty well to get your program done in very efficient and easy way. It works in Windows, macOS, and Android.
Daniusoft mp3 wav converter for mac. The developers behind this text editors keep on updating Vim and adding new features to it with every update.
Features of Vim
- Very lightweight and fast.
- Extensive plugin system
- Powerful search and replace for text.
- Integrates with many other tools.
- It Supports hundreds of programming languages and file formats.
- Works well for remote machines with slow connections.
Visual Studio Code
It is a free Text editor developed by Microsoft. It is released in April 2015. Visual Studio Code has built-in debugging tools for Node, TypeScript, and JavaScript and other languages. It supports on Windows(10,8,7), Mac(10.9+), Linux(Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, SESU).
Features of Visual Studio Code
- It has Smart completions based on variable types, function definitions, and imported modules.
- You can Debug with breakpoints, call stacks, and an interactive console Using its advanced debugging.
- Supports a variety of languages to run and debug like CSS, Perl, PHP, Go, Clojure, HandleBars, Jade, Python, C++, F#, SQL, Lua, Typescript, Dockerfile etc.
UltraEdit
As the name specifies, UltraEdit is one of the text editor which comes with some ordinary editing features which every coder should try.
It is a multi-platform text editor for web development, text editing, system administration and desktop development. It is a Bunch of Incredible features to handle sophisticated software and web development projects. It has very flexible and customized interface. Even it is a paid text editor but you can take trail as well.
Features of UltraEdit
- Multi-platform- Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Able to open and edit very large files without any crash.
- File compare and data sorting.
- Syntax highlighting for almost every programming language.
- Integrated FTP, SSH and telnet client.
- Multi-select to copy or edit on every row you select at the same moment.
- Column mode to add or edit code at the same time.
- Auto closing on XML/HTML tags.
BlueFish
Bluefish is one of the Worthwhile text editors towards programmers and developers worldwide. So far, its five versions have been launched, Every time it comes with new features and improvement in it. It is multi-platform and runs on most of the desktop operating systems including Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS-X, Windows, OpenBSD, and Solaris.
Best Free Text Editor
Features of Bluefish
- Very fast and lightweight, Loads hundreds of files within seconds.
- Multiple document interface to open more than 1000+ documents simultaneously.
- undo or redo functionality.
- Auto-recover after any system crash, Kill or shutdown.
- Available full-screen editing.
- you can save your documents with any desired encoding.
- Bookmarking.
- Easily Open file based on content patterns.
Brackets
Brackets Text editor
Brackets is another open source text/code editor with proper visual tools and preprocessor. It is very lightweight and sufficient for a beginner programmer. With a lot of functions as real-time editing preview and some features, it is a complete coding hub for a programmer. You can even get a real-time connection to your browser. You can also make changes to CSS and HTML and you will instantly see those changes on your screen.
Features of Brackets
- Advance Inline editor.
- Live preview of changes on your code.
- Live Highlight with LESS and SCSS files.
- Magnification Preprocessor support.
CodeRunner
If you are a Mac user then, it is pretty sure that CodeRunner is for you. It’s a purely Mac based text editor, supports large amount of languages. It is very lightweighted and Working on CodeRunner it very ingenue. With so many reliable features it also provides the easily and fully customizable templates to each language.
Features of CodeRunner
- Nailing Textmate theme support.
- File and Symbol Navigator.
- Very Intractive console .
- Automatic identation support.
- Intelligent bracket matching.