Set up tag highlighting in pspad. Inspection of six text editors with code highlighting. What's new in this version

Set the cursor to move freely on the screen:
• Settings/Program settings/Editor behavior/Movement beyond EOL (checkmark)

Checkmarks in the positions are also useful here:
• Auto-leveling.
• Highlighting paired brackets.
• Complement of paired characters
• Graceful closing of parentheses.

Drag vertical stripe along the ruler to the 75th position horizontally.
• This bar will be your signal for long lines.
• In addition, it is along this strip that selected paragraphs will be aligned during automatic formatting (Ctrl+K)

In the settings on the Files and Folders tab:
• New file type: DOS
• Standard encoding: ANSI (Windows).

On the Multi-lighting tab:
• Enable HTML multi-highlighting.
• Basic HTML multi-highlighting.

On the Hotkeys tab:
• You can see the assigned chords.

Useful chords:
• Formatting selected paragraphs - Ctrl+K.
• In capitals (selected fragment) - Ctrl+Alt+U.
• Lowercase (selected fragment) - Ctrl+Alt+L.
• Check HTML code - Ctrl+F10.

Some tricks for working with PSPad:

• Use Word to check your grammar. Can be dragged to Word texts to check directly from the browser page.
• The F10 key (or through the HTML menu) calls up the internal browser. It has buttons that allow you to view pages in windows of different widths: 640, 800, 1024. The middle mouse button calls context menu with HTML template sets: —Tools or Ctrl+Space.
• From the ASCII table, you can click to enter a character, its code or name into the text. The ASCII table is called up from the menu: - Tools or Ctrl + A.
• The Eyedropper tool in the Tools menu is very useful. Allows you to automatically record the color code of the clicked color in the text.
• Sometimes problems arise when transmitting (in both directions) Russian text via the clipboard. Everything will be fine if for the source application and the destination application the system language switch (on the Taskbar) is set to Russian.

IntroductionProbably every user who has worked in Windows knows what Notepad is. Or Notepad - whichever is more familiar to you. The thing is convenient. A small, lightweight application where you can type a letter or copy some information from the Internet. Minimum options, simplest controls. The created files are small in size, and they are compressed perfectly by archivers. It would seem that everything is fine. But only for the time being, until we need something larger (and able to work normally with large files). Yes, the convenience and simplicity of Notepad are extremely important for beginner computer scientists. But as soon as you expand the scope of application, try to use Notepad together with other “flat” files, not just *.txt, this simple tool is no longer enough. Even though they can still view scripts of various programming languages, program logs, batch files, settings files and many, many others, working with all this no longer seems convenient and productive. Fortunately, programmers did not put up with this state of affairs, and began to release improved versions of notepads, each supplemented with its own add-ons. Differing functional extensions, these products in some way began to be divided according to the classes of problems they solve. Our today's review is about one of these classes, simple editors for programmers and webmasters.

What is paramount for such programs? Of course, syntax highlighting of the language in which the user writes! Support for plugins and additional language and functional packages is desirable, as well as the ability to edit those already connected. Search with replace and use regular expressions. A symbol table, a simple hex editor, the ability to work with a large number of formats and encodings. And, of course, ease of use. A requirement that is fair, in principle, for any program, but is most relevant for this kind of product, because the programming process itself takes a lot of time, and no one wants to sit behind an inconvenient shell for a long time. Based on this, we will consider selected programs, namely: PSPad 4.5.0, Golden Pen 1.5, PolyEdit 5.0 RC, Edit Ex 2006r1, Crimson Editor 3.70, Uniqway Poetic 0.2b.

PSPad

PSPad is a fairly well-known and widespread editor for programmers. And his popularity is well deserved. After all, this is a program with probably thousands of functions. And what will be especially pleasant for programmers is that this is not just a text editor with additional features, it is a set of special tools specifically for their needs. For example, why does a text writer need a built-in FTP client? It is unlikely to be in demand, and the webmaster will probably, having written some script or page, want to immediately see the result in action by uploading it to a remote server. Connect with the specified settings. They are much broader than specifying an address, login and password.

FTP client connection settings

What about the project tree? With its help, you can further expand the editor's functions and create real projects. And although it is not at all necessary that these will be software projects, it is interesting this opportunity precisely for these needs.

Parameters of the created project

To work with long codes, displaying the file structure is simply irreplaceable. In this field, PSPad displays functions and macro definitions found by patterns in the file being viewed, according to the selected syntax.

Editing a pas file in the editor window

In the latest versions of PSPad, the user can actively work with scripts, not only manually correct them, but also then recompile them. However, for this you will need to have MS Windows Scripting host installed. The latter supports a fairly large number of languages, and not just Visual Basic and Java scripts.

Good HTML editing capabilities. Of course, our editor will be inferior in number of functions to specialized packages, but we don’t require the capabilities of a powerful compiler from a lightweight, convenient tool? Otherwise, PSPad will be useful for both beginners and experienced webmasters. There is also a converter between various formats, and a viewer with the ability to change resolution, and HTML code checking, and extensive formatting options.

Freshly installed, the PSPad "knows" about thirty different programming languages. Despite the fact that there are completely ordinary C, Object Pascal, Java, Java Script, HTML, PHP, Visual Basic, etc., the presence of some, such as COBOL, Inno Setup Script, KiXtart, Tcl/Tk, TeX , Unix Shell Script aroused my genuine interest. Any of the languages, by the way, the user can reconfigure, edit and create their own syntax. Or specify a compiler for it.

In general, the widest possibilities for customizing everything is another distinctive feature the editor in question. Starting from the process of installing the program, and ending with the fine-tuning of the tools themselves. I don’t know about you, but such powers have always been pleasant to me, because by providing them, the author thereby makes it clear that he is targeting the product at a qualified audience, whose representatives will be able not only to understand all this, but also to improve, optimize, and bring it to fruition. Of course, there is nothing to worry about, if you don’t need anything like that, leave it as it is, the program will not become any worse.

Program installation

General program settings

Menu for some other settings

Above were listed only some of the features of the PSPad, most related to its programming features. In addition to this, there is also a sea of ​​interesting and useful things. For example, a hex editor and clipboard manager.

If you use a typing program, spell checking will undoubtedly come in handy. In addition, there are all kinds of editing, search and replace, and formatting options. The tool menu is simply replete with “bells and whistles”. There is a macro manager, a file parser, an ASCII table, and several types of palettes. If the latter are not enough - here you go, pipette! A variant of a tool well known from many image editors for determining color in a particular area. The PSPad eyedropper will allow you to pick up color at any point and under the program window itself. In addition, there is a hash generator (functions MD4, MD5, SHA1, RIPEMD160 are used), command line, a number converter between different number systems and even Roman symbols, a simple but powerful version of the calculator (called an expression analyzer), and others.

The help system (that is, the system) is complete and varied. In addition to the actual comprehensive guide to the program, you can get information about programming languages, and if you have an Internet connection, then access to programming sites and remote online utilities.

Program website: http://www.pspad.com

Golden Pen

Probably many people know Golden Pen. The program is not new; perhaps some have already forgotten it. Not surprising, latest version was released already in 2001, the author is not even indicated Windows support XP. On the other hand, simplicity and convenience are the main advantages of this small editor, combined with functionality sufficient for an average level. Therefore, Vitaly Nevzorov’s Golden Pen can be successfully used to this day.

VB code in Golden Pen window

Golden Pen is also good because it is a universal “two-sided” editor. It is equally convenient to use both for typing regular text and for editing source codes. The opportunities provided are approximately equivalent. For text, these are printing, export to RTF and HTML, alignment, display, search and transition options. For scripts - syntax highlighting for fifteen current (for 2000) languages ​​up to Fortran, work with bookmarks, hex mode for viewing files. In addition, there are additional tools, a clipboard, macro recording, a calculator, and an ASCII code table. The Golden Pen calculator is capable of calculating some statistical functions, and, in addition, when typing text, a contextual calculator is active - this is when you type an expression, and after the "=" sign, the program automatically displays its value.

Hex editor mode
While working with the program, I noticed two small bugs - when calling the calculator from the toolbar, the calendar stubbornly appears, and the panel itself disappears when the program is closed, but is not always restored automatically the next time it is launched.

Program website: http://www.geocities.com/midweststudio/

PolyEdit

To call PolyEdit a notepad for programmers somehow doesn’t even dare. However, it made it into our review because it also includes such features. And there are many, many other things that would require a separate article to describe.

Yes, indeed, PolyEdit is a program with the broadest capabilities, although at the first acquaintance it gave me feelings... probably similar to the feelings of the heroes from Nikolai Nosov’s “Dunno on the Moon” when they spent the night at the Economic Hotel. If the owners there declared the cheapest rooms, but in reality required a separate payment for the use of water, TV, beds, etc., then the creators of PolyEdit (Polysoft Solutions), not failing to note the small size of the program distribution, did not include some of the specified functions in it . Therefore, having decided to first check the syntax highlighting of languages, I was somewhat disappointed and was sent to the program website for downloading required components. Fortunately, this ZIP package takes up only 9 KB. It’s surprising why it couldn’t be included in the distribution right away. In addition specified file Several more addons and 10 dictionaries with sizes ranging from 500 KB to 6 MB are available in the Downloads section. However, the developers cannot be judged too harshly. Expect to receive a full word processor Word level in a size of less than one and a half megabytes is somewhat naive. The decision to separately place additional packages needed only by a specific user is quite reasonable for a program freely distributed over the Internet.

As for the program itself, this text was typed just in the editor window, and there were no conveniences to be experienced. The only thing was that I needed to download additional Russian language pack to check spelling. To do this, press F7 or select a command from the menu item. The check does not occur automatically. Maybe for the better? This will prevent unnecessary lag and pauses when typing on slow computers.

Among the capabilities of PolyEdit, we note the following. Data encryption using BlowFish transformations and the SHA-1 hash function. Full support for OLE objects (pictures, clips, diagrams, etc.). Export/import of several formats, including Word, Excel, Html. Plugin support. Built-in e-mail client. Drag-and-Drop and Drag-and-Dock functions. Support for a large number of encodings. Autosave. Search and replace using regular expressions, searching through files. Syntax highlighting. Show non-printable characters.

Some menu items

The "advanced" style interface is very similar to the default interface of the MS Word editor. All basic capabilities for working with text are the same. Only the drawing panel is missing. But there are additional elements available. I really liked the Drag-and-Dock technology for multi-document windows.

Multi-Document Interface

PolyEdit supports themes. All kinds of parameters can be configured in the program options.

Setting up PolyEdit

Testing the editor when working with raw materials revealed some shortcomings. Thus, in a Delphi pas file, commenting with curly braces does not work correctly, and commenting with regular brackets with asterisks does not work at all. Similar problems were observed for html and cpp files. The highlighting of the t-sql script can be seen in the accompanying illustration. For clarity, the view in PolyEdit and the view in the MS SQL Query Analyzer window of the eighth version are given. It is clear that these programs use different specifications, but still...

Undoing the last actions does not always work correctly.

SQL script in PolyEdit window (left) and SQL Query Analyzer

You can register your copy of PolyEdit. Whether it is advisable is up to you to decide. Among the most important advantages paid version priority technical support by e-mail, free program upgrades, discounts when purchasing other products from PolySoft Solution. As you can see, even the presented advantages do not seem significant, and there is nothing to say about the others; it’s unlikely that displaying your company’s name in the program information window costs $30 per license. However, there are discounts for wholesale buyers...

Program website: http://www.polyedit.com/

EditEx

The latest version 2006r1 of this editor was released a little over a month ago, so we’ll take it for consideration. The main trump card, indicated by the author of the program, Artem Fursenko, is “highlighting everything, everything, everything.” Indeed, EditEx “knows” more than fifty different syntaxes. And this is an absolute record among today's competitors. It doesn’t even make sense to list everything; you’re unlikely to find the one you need. No, well, of course, you can if you want, but for the vast majority of programmers this will be enough.

Despite the fact that the development is domestic, the program interface is entirely in English. The developer's website is similar. Although the site is stingy with instructions and useful information. By the way, there is no help in the program itself. It’s good that it’s not particularly necessary - the editor is quite traditional in appearance and not complicated. On the left side there is a conductor, on top there is a toolbar, and the rest of the space is reserved for the document editing area.

EditEx 2006 editor interface

Everything is included in the program necessary tools for formatting text, searching, changing encoding. Additionally, there is a package for checking the spelling of English and Russian words and an on-the-fly translator. Unfortunately, both of the latter utilities work simply poorly. And although they function, it is almost impossible to use them. The translator performs a contextual search in the dictionary and displays absolutely all the results it encounters. Enter the word "go," for example, and you'll get hundreds of options, from "the agony" to "the pangolin." Although, in fact, the verb “go” will be somewhere in the middle of the sample. The spelling check in the dictionary also surprised me with its originality; it was proposed to replace “parts” with “cheboty”, “available” with “Ivan-tea”, “launch” with “zaalet”, etc. in the same vein literally through the word. The situation is only slightly better with English language, where words are usually less inclined.

Spell check is surprising in its approach

Now about the nice additions. A simple FTP client, the ability to work in full screen mode, seeing clean code without sometimes annoying buttons and panels, additional panel automatic setting of HTML tags, preview of HTML pages and launch of the program specifying an external compiler.

Options for connecting to an FTP server

Program website: http://www.flywheel.nm.ru/editex.html

Crimson Editor

Having turned to Crimson Editor after EditEx, it seemed to me that the latter was made from it. Indeed, in terms of their set of functions, both editors are like brothers. Even outwardly it’s easy to confuse them. The same set of functions that are standard for the class of programs under consideration, the same advanced search, the same highlighting of paired brackets, line numbering (and printing with its preservation), text formatting, a transcoder with a minimum number of sets. There is a built-in FTP client, an optional explorer, HTML file preview, spell checking, detailed statistics, and the ability to record and run macros. A contextual calculator is also available.

Editor window without Explorer enabled

Languages, of which there are only 16 in the standard installation (including Basic, C/C++, CSS, HTML, Java, Matlab, Pascal, Perl, PHP, Python, etc.), are highlighted correctly, with automatic detection type. Language specifications can be customized by the user. In addition, a large number of various language files are available for download on the program’s official website. This probably allowed the creator (Ingyu Kang) to claim support for more than 100 computer languages.

When working with the editor, I found an unpleasant bug - when opening files, the program analyzes its contents, apparently to determine the syntax to be highlighted. The mechanisms are not reported by the author, but as a result of this procedure, some workable scripts lead to a memory access error and the program crashes.

Error while parsing the file being opened

Program website: http://www.crimsoneditor.com/

Uniqway Poetic

Well, in conclusion, let’s look at one more program. This editor is completely new, even raw, but I liked it and seems very promising. Its first version 0.1a was released only about a month ago, and now the second version 0.2b is already available. If the authors (Pavel Sushkov and others) continue with the same zeal, then we have the right to expect a complete convenient program with good functionality already in the spring. Although you can use Uniqway Poetic right now.

So, what's interesting here? In general - a pleasant multi-document interface, extensive use of hot keys, convenient navigation, import/export UTF-8 and UTF-16 formats, printability, preview and page settings. Displaying non-printing characters, adjusting the font size for ease of use, of course, search and replace, using regular expressions. There are also file statistics based on the number of words and certain characters.

Uniqway Poetic

Work with text. I liked the options for adjusting indentation and removing leading and trailing spaces. It is possible to change the case of the typed text and set the line break type (Unix, Mac or Win). Conversion can be made between the following types: Windows 1251, KOI8-R, ISO-8859-2, ISO-8859-5, ISO-8859-6, DOS 866, Mac Central European, Mac Cyrillic, Mac Greek. A small table of characters indicating codes for quick typing on the keyboard is available, as well as a function for sorting strings in alphabetical order. The history of changes made is not limited.

Transcoder

Working with code. The phrase with official page programs about highlighting "any type of syntax." I still don’t understand what exactly the creators had in mind, but practically the program supports the following types: PHP, CSS, HTML, Delphi, XML, INI and Perl. Optionally, in addition to the coordinates of the cursor position in the status line, there is a numbering of lines of code.

Program settings

The program parameters can be changed to suit your own needs. Unfortunately, you cannot add custom buttons to any of the taskbars, including the custom one, but I am sure that a similar function will appear in the coming releases.

By the way, what else might appear in future versions? First of all, increasing the number of supported languages, enabling an FTP client and hex mode, expanding the program settings. Or maybe the Uniqway team will please us with something original, different from other editors in the future?

Program website: http://www.uniqway.com/poetic/

Results

In general, I liked all the programs discussed above, one way or another. And everything can be applied to your own “taste and color”.

PSPad It stands out among others in terms of its range of functions and convenience. A very efficient editor, superior even to some paid analogues. I recommend it to absolutely everyone who, due to duty or the dictates of their hearts, has to engage in program writing.

Golden Pen is a good replacement for the standard Windows Notepad with a number of additional tools like general purpose, and intended for programmers.

PolyEdit- a fairly strong program, but is not a specialized product for programmers. It could potentially be an alternative to MS Word, as it includes extensive capabilities for working with text.

IN EditEx What's interesting, first of all, is the support for a large number of different syntaxes. At the same time, the author’s attempt to stuff the program with a significant number of additional functions should be considered unsuccessful. Perhaps it’s a simple matter of using ready-made software components found on the Internet. Despite the fact that some of them are not finalized themselves. Quite quickly you get tired of the banner offering to buy raw software for $40. Throw this away, don't use half-baked features, and you'll get a completely usable editor.

Crimson Editor Overall it’s nicer than the previous program, there’s no annoying banner. The features are about the same, but EditEx supports more languages. Crimson Editor, in turn, seems better refined.

Well Uniqway Poetic- a young program with the prospect of becoming a good help to the programmer...


Size: 1999 KB
Price: free

Notepad++ is quite a powerful and at the same time free editor text files. The project is based on the Scintilla library, which, according to the author, ensures maximum application speed. It is difficult to talk about speed in relation to such compact programs, because any text editor works without any slowdowns, or, as they say, brakes.

The main feature of Notepad++ is its very unusual support for color printers. The program only works with in plain text. Various research on the topic of RTF is not available to her. It would be logical to assume that when printed, all the letters will be the same color. However, this is not quite true. Text editor supports syntax highlighting. As a result, different symbols may have different colors. All this riot of colors will be correctly transmitted on a color printer. As a result, you get the opportunity to print, for example, the source texts of programs, seeing syntax highlighting on the paper.

Notepad++ supports automatic word completion. By and large, the very fact of having this function can be considered a plus for the program. But Notepad++ doesn't just help with typing, it allows you to assign its own set of functions to each programming language. You start typing a command, and the text editor immediately offers options for completing it. Moreover, they are not invented out of thin air, but are taken from a specific dictionary specified in the settings. To enter simple text, it is not necessary to use specialized dictionaries with lists of functions. It is enough to memorize previously entered words into the journal. If it has already appeared previously in the text, its variant will be offered as an automatic completion of the word.

Many text editors allow you to open multiple documents at the same time. Tabs are used for this. Notepad++ has additional opportunity, which consists of dividing the working application window into several panels. This allows you to view and edit multiple documents at the same time.

Spell checking is carried out using the Aspell program. This is an independent application, and if it is installed on the system, then the check will work. The issue with the Russian language is resolved in a similar way. Errors are found on it if a Russian dictionary is installed in Aspell.

The text editor has a wide range of string management functions. You can delete entire lines, duplicate them, wrap them, and merge them. Any line can move up or down in the text. You can remove all extra spaces in the text, create columns, and change the case of letters.

The program supports recording macros and playing them back. In addition, you can configure hotkeys, which are used to perform most operations in the text editor. In addition to macros, the program includes the TextFX component. It contains a large amount standard features and other text structures. They are entered by selecting the appropriate menu item, which is sometimes much faster than manual typing from the keyboard.

Quick input of text strings is also possible using the Quick Text module. It consists of supporting a huge number of complex structures that can be introduced using abbreviations. For example, you can type the word table, while adding to the document a large portion of HTML code that is responsible for organizing the table on the web page.

Thanks to the abundance of service functions for accelerating text input, Notepad++ is easy to use for preparing simple text documents, and is also quite good for developing websites and software.

PSPad - universal free editor. If you need to work with simple text, it has rich formatting functions, including a spell checker; you need to create web pages - the PSPad web editor contains many unique tools to save your time; If you need a good IDE for your compiler, the PSPad has many tools for you, including connecting external help files, comparing versions and much more...

No complex installation process is required, the program is ready to work immediately without requiring any configuration. PSPad supports many various types files and languages, with good syntax highlighting. PSPad Editor is a text and code editor for programmers.

There are built-in macros, file capture, and templates to automate repetitive actions. Built-in HEX editor, project support, FTP client, macro recorder, file search and replace, code explorer, code page conversion - these are just some of the many features that PSPad can offer you.

Key Features and Functions

• works with projects;
• works with several documents at the same time (multi-tab interface);
• saves your work session so you can reopen all the necessary files later;
• FTP client - You can edit files directly online;
• macro recorder for saving and loading macros;
• search and replace in files;
• highlighting differences in text with color;
• templates ( HTML tags, scripts, code templates, etc.);
• The installer contains templates for HTML, PHP, Pascal, JScript, VBScript, MySQL, MS-Dos, Perl...
• automatic syntax highlighting in accordance with the set file type;
• user-defined lighting for exotic environments;
• auto-corrections;
• Smart built-in HTML preview using IE and Mozilla;
• full HEX editor;
• call external programs, different for each operating environment;
• syntax color highlighting for printing and print preview;
• built-in TiDy library for formatting and checking HTML code, converting to CSS, XML, XHTML;
• built-in free version top CSS editor TopStyle Lite;
• export with highlighting in RTF, HTML, TeX format to a file or clipboard;
• selection of columns and blocks, bookmarks, line numbers...
• reformatting and compression of HTML code, changing typical tag containers;
• sorting lines with the ability to sort by a specific column, with a choice of options for removing duplicates;
• ASCII schema with HTML objects;
• Code Explorer for Pascal, INI, HTML, XML, PHP and more to come;
• spell checker;
• built-in web browser with APACHE support

and many other possibilities.

Special Requirements

• the program does not require installation. To prepare for use, you need to unpack it into the selected folder and run the PSPad.EXE file;
• this version does not contain a dictionary for checking syntax - it can be downloaded separately (see links to the program).

What's new in this version?

4.6.1.2730 (06.07.2016)

• the Cascading Style Sheet highlighting tool has been renamed to a more familiar CSS;
• Fixed problems with displaying statistics, including a bug with spaces;
• added a settings section to expand the MaxWrapSize parameter. This setting limits the size of WordWrap after the file is opened. The default value is 200000 bytes;
• Now in the report window you can use standard keys for the “Find Next” and “Previous” functions (F3 / Shift+F3);
• Other corrections and improvements have been made.

Main functions

• loading/saving/recording macros;
• work with multiple documents thanks to a multi-tab interface;
• saving work session;
• editing files online using an FTP client;
• search/replace in files;
• highlighting differences in text with certain colors;
• syntax highlighting;
• preview before printing;
• automatic corrections;
• reformatting/compressing HTML code;
• HEX editor;
• sorting rows by a given column;
• many templates, etc.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

• free;
• Russian-language interface;
• convenient work with code;
• built-in web browser with Apache support;
• FTP manager;
• tag templates that are inserted using various hotkey combinations;
• five ways to work with the register, etc.

Flaws:

• When replacing text in several documents, you can change no more than one line;
• non-standard text editing;
• lack of function for displaying indentation values.

Alternatives

AkelPad. Free text editor program. Allows you to work in single-window and double-window mode, edit files different sizes, supports Unicode encodings. It has a preview function, works with new-line formats, and makes it possible to find and replace text fragments.

UltraEdit. Free app to edit text. Its arsenal includes the following features: functional text editing, code folding, working with UNICODE, syntax highlighting, number converter, and much more. etc.

Work principles

The main work area is located in the center of the main program window. From the left side - side panel to access the project tree, working files, FTP client, directory tree hard drive. At the top are options for managing basic features and menus. There are no specialized tools on the right side. Here you can open different options for panels: palette, file structure, number conversion calculator, etc.

Interface

The program supports syntax support. Its method depends on the extension of the particular file.

Syntax support

When working with multiple documents separate files may or may not be combined into one project. You need to switch between them using tabs.

After typing, you can check spelling. To make it more correct, you should download the module for the Russian language. The automatic word completion feature is useful for speed typing. When you type a word in the dictionary, the available options will be displayed.