Notepad++ is a better text editor

It's been long time since i have started using Notepad++ for it can improve both productivity and efficiency of work. It has a better interface than the default notepad application in your windows desktop.What i like best is that you are free to download the software and no worries for license fees for it is an opensource software.

What is Notepad++?

screenshot at notepad++ website

It is a text editor that is an opensource software which a part of GNU Public License which means that you can use the software for free and no costing fees for license.
Git Repository : https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus

Where can we download Notepad++?

Their software can be download for free in their website https://notepad-plus-plus.org/ , you can select different versions , as of this tutorial writing their current newest version is 7.5.1 as released last August 30 2017.
As you can see in their website , click on the download section and you will see release version of notepad++ , you may select what is your preferred version to download. As of now notepad++ is only available for windows.

screenshot at notepad++ website

Following Notepad++ Features that i like best

Has line numbers
The default notepad application is only a plain editor which has no line numbers. This line numbers can greatly help programmers and software tester to locate error line numbers as well as easy tracing and debugging of codes.

screenshot at notepad++ application

As we can see in above image that line numbers are located in the left section and colored gray.

Mutiple Tabs

Notepad++ has the functionality to create multiple tabs which makes your text editing much easier and faster comparing to operating system's default notepad applications.

screenshot at notepad++ application

On above image , we can see clearly that it has the functionality of creating multiple tabs. Tabs that are colored blue are saved text while the red ones are unsaved text.

How to create mutiple tab
Click on File -> New or you can use shortcut key Ctrl+N

screenshot at notepad++ application

(Note : Your previously opened text will not be closed instead it will open another tab. You can create more tabs but sometimes it causes slow opening of notepad++ when you have many opened tabs. Make sure to close all tabs once you are finished every work to prevent from software crashing or hangup when you open it again.)

Colored code tags

Notepad++ supports colored code tags which makes it a very efficient alternative for programming. You can easily tracked tags since they are colored. I have created a sample html text below.

screenshot at notepad++ application

From the image we can see that tags are colored blue and it also have tree-view which is a real good add-on assistant for your code debugging needs.

Supports several Languages

With many language supported it is really easy for the developer to use. See below a list of languages supported:

Ada	ASP	Assembly
AutoIt	ASP	Assembly
Ada	Batch	C
C#	C++	Cmake
COBOL	Caml	CoffeeScript
CSS	D	Diff
Flash actionscript	Fortan	Gui4Cli
Haskell	HTML	INNO
Java	JavaScript	JSP
KIXtart	LIsp	Lua
Makefile	Matlab	MS INI file
MS-DOS Style	Matlab	Normal Text
NSIS	ObjectiveC	Pascal
Perl	PHP	Postscript
Powershell	Properties	Python
R	Resource File	Ruby
Shell	Scheme	Smalltalk
SQL	TCL	TeX
VB	VHDL	Verilog
XML	YAML

To be able to select your preferred language or you can defined your own. Click on Language Menu and you will see a list of languages on the list.

screenshot at notepad++ application

Quick testing

It has a menu in which you can easily run your code , selecting your preferred browser (Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome , Safari or Internet Explorer)
You just need to Click on Run and select your preferred browser.

screenshot at notepad++ application

Below are sets of Options and their corresponding shortcut keys

Function	Shortcut Key
Run	F5
Launch in Firefox	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X
Launch in IE	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I
Launch in Chrome	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R
Launch in Safari	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F
Get php help	Alt+F1
Google Search	Alt+F2
Wikipedia Search	Alt+F3
Open file	Alt+F5
Open in another instance	Alt+F6
Send via Outlook	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+O

Macro playback function

This option lessens repeatable works which you can record a flow and then play it back and it will redo what was being saved actions. You click on Macro menu to be able to record, stop and playback

screenshot at notepad++ application

How to do macro playback function
First Click on Start Recording

Go to your editor and then input for example (Test1, Test2 and Test3) see image below

screenshot at notepad++ application

Now Click on Stop Recording

Now if you Click Playback
Or you use Shortcut Key Ctrl + Shift + P

You will get repeated your text automatically.

screenshot at notepad++ application

Removes unwanted spaces

You can immediately eliminate unwanted spaces from the editor by using it's macro function.

How to remove spaces
First i will make an example text with spaces.

screenshot at notepad++ application

As you can see on the top image text has spaces.

After that click on Trim Trailing and save
Or you can execute Shortcut Key Alt + Shift + S

After you have clicked Trim Trailing and save, the spaces will be removed, you can see image below

screenshot at notepad++ application

Writes a group of the same text in an instant

I have created a sample text , and put my cursor on the first line of my created text.

screenshot at notepad++ application

Now i Hold Alt + Ctrl and drag it to the 3rd line text, after that the three line have the same cursor.

screenshot at notepad++ application

After that you can try to type a sample text and it will automatically append and write at the same time, the output below.

screenshot at notepad++ application

Advantages of using Notepad++

• You can use the software for free
• Easy to use and has many functions
• Tag codes are colored text
• Does have macro functionalities that others don't have
• Opens multiple tab that help increase productivity

Disdvantages of using Notepad++

• Slows down or Hangup if you open too much text files (created too much tab

I would recommend that you will use this kind of notepad for it is very convenient to use and efficient. I will give it as a five star application.

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Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors

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