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Comparison of text editors
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==Extra features== {{sticky header}}{{sort under}} {| class="wikitable sticky-header sortable" style="max-width: 30em; table-layout: fixed" |+ Text editor support for other programming features |-valign=bottom ! ! [[shell (computing)#Text (CLI) shells|Text shell]] integration ! [[shell (computing)#Graphical (GUI) shells|Graphical shell]] integration ! [[macro (computer science)|Macro language]] ! [[collaborative real-time editor|Collaborative editing]] ! [[#ref_lfs|Large file support]] ! Long line support ! Multi-line [[regular expression|regex]] support{{efn|name=multi_line_regex|''Multi-line regex support'' Support for expressions spanning several lines (e.g. "\n\n(.+)\n\n")}} ! Search in files |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Acme (text editor)|Acme]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />Extensible | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | AkelPad | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}in |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Alphatk]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />{{efn|name=alphaMacro|''Alpha'' Macro support via [[AppleScript]], [[Tcl]] or text factories.}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Atom (text editor)|Atom]] | {{na}}<br /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/atom/atom/issues/14490|title=Feature Request: Integrated Shell/Terminal Access 路 Issue #14490 路 atom/atom|website=GitHub}}</ref> | {{dunno}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}in<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://atom.io/packages/atom-macros|title=atom-macros|website=Atom|date=8 June 2022 }}</ref> | {{ya}} | {{na}} ~27{{nbsp}}MB | {{Maybe|[[Line wrap and word wrap#Soft and hard returns|Soft-wrapping]]}} | {{na}}<br /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/atom/find-and-replace/issues/398|title=Multi-line find and replace in project 路 Issue #398 路 atom/find-and-replace|website=GitHub}}</ref> | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[BBEdit]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />{{efn|name=bbeditMacro|''BBEdit'' Macro support via [[AppleScript]], [[Perl]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Lasso (programming language)|Lasso]], [[Unix shell|shell]] scripts or text factories.}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}}<br /><ref name="bbeditBigFile">"Handling large files presents no intrinsic problems for ''BBEdit'', though some specific operations may be limited when dealing with files over 2GB in size." [http://www.barebones.com/support/bbedit/faqs.html BBEdit FAQs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729151137/http://www.barebones.com/support/bbedit/faqs.html |date=2019-07-29 }}.</ref> | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | Bluefish | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Brackets (text editor)|Brackets]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />Extensible | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{Partial}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Coda (web development software)|Coda]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}<br />{{efn|name=codaMacroLanguage|''Coda'' offers macros via AppleScript, text "clips,"or plug{{nbh}}ins (Cocoa apps or any installed scripting language).}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[ConTEXT]] | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}}<br />{{efn|name|contextBigFile|''ConTEXT'' claims Large File Support but load time is proportional to file size and a 1 GB file gave an Out of Memory error.{{original research inline|date=January 2021}} }} | {{dunno}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Crimson Editor]] | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | CudaText | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}in | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}in |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[ed (text editor)|ed]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />via [[mkfifo]] | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Editra]] | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}}<br />2{{nbsp}}GB | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[EmEditor]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}<br>16TB | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Geany]] | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}in | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[gedit]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />{{efn|name=pythonMacro|''Cssed'' Macro support via [[Python (programming language)|Python]].}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}in | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}in<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://oliver.github.io/gedit-file-search/|title=Gedit File Search Plugin|website=oliver.github.io}}</ref> |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Emacs#GNU Emacs|GNU Emacs]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{yes|2.3 EB}}<ref>{{cite web |title=GNU Emacs 23.2 NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/NEWS.23.2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Buffers.html|title=Buffers|quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Does Emacs have problems with large files? |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/efaq/Problems-with-very-large-files.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=GNU emacs manual - Narrowing |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Narrowing.html}}</ref> | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[JED (text editor)|JED]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}}<br /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fi.infn.it/info/jed/jed.pdf|title=The JED Editor|access-date=2009-12-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105154439/http://www.fi.infn.it/info/jed/jed.pdf|archive-date=2012-01-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}ins |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[jEdit]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} (heap){{efn|jEdit: Limited by Java heap size.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://marc.info/?l=jedit-users&m=113229204827690&w=2|title='Re: [ jEdit-users ] Big file take AGES' - MARC|website=marc.info}}</ref>}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Joe's Own Editor|JOE]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}}<br /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://sourceforge.net/p/joe-editor/mercurial/ci/default/tree/docs/man.md#searching-for-text|title=JOE - Joe's Own Editor|website=JOE - Joe's own editor / Mercurial / [2e4f45] /docs/man.md|access-date=23 October 2015|quote=The search covers all loaded buffers.}}</ref> |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[JOVE]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}} | {{dunno}} | {{na}} | {{na}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Kate (text editor)|Kate]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}in | {{na}} | {{na}}<br /><ref name="kwrite_fs">kwrite-devel, [http://lists.kde.org/?l=kwrite-devel&m=123831792812001&w=2 Large Files open slowly due to futile Syntax-Highlighting]</ref> | {{Maybe}}<br />{{efn|name=kate_config|Kate: Line length is limited by default. The limit can be removed, but long lines may cause poor performance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.kde.org/stable5/en/applications/katepart/config-dialog.html#pref-open-save|title=The Kate Handbook}}</ref>}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />Plug{{nbh}}in |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[KEDIT]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} | {{Maybe|10Kb}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Komodo Edit]] | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}}<br /><ref name="Komodo_Macro">{{Cite web|url=http://docs.activestate.com/komodo/9.2/macros.html|title=Macros|website=docs.activestate.com}}</ref> | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Komodo IDE]] | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}}<br /><ref name="Komodo_Macro"/> | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[KWrite]] | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}}<br /><ref name="kwrite_fs"/> | {{na}}<br /><ref>Lines longer than ~700 characters frequently cause crashes. [https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/applications/katepart/config-dialog.html#pref-open-save KatePart documentation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107061054/https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/applications/katepart/config-dialog.html#pref-open-save |date=2018-01-07 }} (which is also the KWrite documentation, see [https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/applications/kwrite/index.html here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107061309/https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/applications/kwrite/index.html |date=2018-01-07 }})</ref> | {{na}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[LE (text editor)|LE]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}}<br />{{efn|LE text editor locks the file and warns if someone else has changed the file}} | {{okay | memory}}<br />{{efn|LE text editor can view and edit large files or their parts in [[mmap]]-shared mode}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Light Table (software)|Light Table]] | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Metapad]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}}<br /><ref>metapad FAQ, [http://liquidninja.com/metapad/faq.html#Q4 Loading Large Files]</ref> | {{dunno}} | {{na}} | {{na}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[mined (text editor)|mined]] | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[MS-DOS Editor|EDIT (MS-DOS)]] | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} (64~300{{nbsp}}KB) | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[DR-DOS|EDIT (DR-DOS)]] | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | 2{{nbsp}}GB, for as long as there is disk swap space for two temporary files | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Nano (text editor)|Nano]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} |- ! ! Text shell integration ! Graphical shell integration ! Macro language ! Collaborative editing ! Large file support ! Long line support ! Multi-line regex support ! Search in files |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[NEdit]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Microsoft Notepad|Notepad]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}} | {{dunno}} | {{na}} | {{na}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Notepad++]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz-SVru1cKo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/iz-SVru1cKo| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Notepad++ - How to Remotely work on the Same File in Real Time|date=11 January 2016 |via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref> | {{ya}}<br />2GB<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/16960/text-limit|title=Text limit|date=January 16, 2019|website=Community}}</ref> | {{ya}}<br /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php/Managing_Line_Lengths|title=Configurable through settings}}</ref> | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[nvi]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Pico (text editor)|Pico]] | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[PolyEdit]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[PSPad]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}}<br /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://forum.pspad.com/read.php?4,49191|title=PSPad forum / Bug report / Hl谩拧en铆 chyb / cannot open large file|website=forum.pspad.com}}</ref> | {{dunno}} | {{ya}}<br />with plug{{nbh}}in | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[RJ TextEd]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Sam (text editor)|Sam]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />external{{efn|name=samext}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[SciTE]] | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[SlickEdit]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}<br />2{{nbsp}}TB | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Smultron]] | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[SubEthaEdit]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[TED Notepad]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[TextEdit]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[TextMate]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[TextPad]] | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}}<br /><ref name="MozillaZine">{{Cite web|url=http://kb.mozillazine.org/Edit_large_mbox_files|title=Edit large mbox files - MozillaZine Knowledge Base|website=kb.mozillazine.org}}</ref> | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[TextWrangler]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{okay | memory}}<br /><ref name="textwranglerBigFile">"''TextWrangler'' is a RAM-based editor, and it uses system memory to hold open files. TextWrangler also represents open documents as Unicode, which uses two bytes for each character. Combined with an internal Mac OS X limitation, this means that you can open files up to 384 megabytes in size." [http://www.barebones.com/support/textwrangler/faqs.html TextWrangler FAQs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010173050/http://www.barebones.com/support/textwrangler/faqs.html |date=2019-10-10 }}.</ref> | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[The SemWare Editor]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} Only in special DOS multi-user version | {{ya}}<br />2{{nbsp}}GB | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[UltraEdit]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}<br />{{efn|name=ultraEditBigFile|UltraEdit has no real limit on file size - and can easily open, edit, and save large text files in excess of 4 GB! [https://www.ultraedit.com/support/tutorials-power-tips/ultraedit/large-file-handling.html].}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[VEDIT]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}}{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Vi (text editor)|vi]] | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} ~65{{nbsp}}MB | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Vim (text editor)|Vim]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />with plug{{nbh}}in<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/FredKSchott/CoVim|title=GitHub - FredKSchott/CoVim: Collaborative Editing for Vim.|date=November 13, 2019|via=GitHub}}</ref> | {{okay | memory}}<br />{{efn|2GB with 32 Bits, on a 64 Bit system it depends on the available virtual memory.}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[Visual Studio Code]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}}<br />with plug{{nbh}}in<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=MS-vsliveshare.vsliveshare|title=Live Share - Visual Studio Marketplace|website=marketplace.visualstudio.com}}</ref> | {{dunno}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[XEmacs]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{okay | on 64-bit OS}}<br />{{efn|name=EmacsFSLimit|Emacs: 64-bit compilation on 64-bit OS can handle 2 GB files, otherwise the limit is 512 [[MiB]]. [https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/NEWS.23.2]}} | {{dunno}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} |- ! nowrap {{rh}} | [[NEdit|XNEdit]] | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{na}} | {{na}} | {{ya}} | {{ya}} | {{dunno}} |- |-valign=top ! ! Text shell integration ! Graphical shell integration ! Macro language ! Collaborative editing ! Large file support ! Long line support ! Multi-line regex support ! Search in files |} <span id="ref_lfs"></span> '''Large file support:''' {| cellpadding=1 style="margin-left:1em" |- | {{ya}} | = Larger than 4 GiB ([[Large file support|LFS]]) | {{ya}}2{{nbsp}}GB | = Larger than 1 GB, not limited by memory |- | {{okay | memory}} | = Limited by available memory | {{na}} (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.<ref name="large_text_editors">''Comparison of Windows Text Editors for Large Files'': [http://www.knudvaneeden.com/tinyurl.php?urlKey=url000400 Text editors for large files]</ref> '''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]].
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