JEdit is an open source Java-based text editor that has been around for years. On the positive side it's free, reasonably quick, and most importantly, it has a ton of third-party plugins. All those plugins are what keeps me coming back to look at jEdit from time to time.
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The following is a list of notable text editors.
- 3Text user interface
- 3.2Others
- 5ASCII and ANSI art
- 6Historical
Graphical and text user interface[edit]
The following editors can either be used with a graphical user interface or a text user interface.
| Name | Description | Free software |
|---|---|---|
| Aquamacs Emacs | A distribution of GNU Emacs heavily modified to behave like a Mac program. | Yes |
| Cream | A configuration of Vim. | Yes |
| Elvis | A vi/ex clone with additional commands and features. | Yes |
| Extensible Versatile Editor (EVE) | Default under OpenVMS. | ? |
| GNU Emacs/XEmacs | Two long-existing forks of the popular Emacs programmer's editor. Emacs and vi are the dominant text editors on Unix-likeoperating systems, and have inspired the editor wars. | Yes |
| Language-Sensitive Editor (LSE) | Programmer's Editor for OpenVMS implemented using TPU. | Yes |
| Textadept | A modular, cross-platform editor written in C and Lua, using Scintilla.[1] | Yes |
| vile (vi like Emacs) | A vi work-alike which retains the vi command-set while adding new features: multiple windows and buffers, infinite undo, colorization, scriptable expansion capabilities, etc. | Yes |
| vim | A clone based on the ideas of the vi editor and designed for use both from a command line interface and in a graphical user interface. | Yes |
Graphical user interface[edit]
| Name | Description | License |
|---|---|---|
| Acme | A User Interface for Programmers by Rob Pike. | Free software |
| AkelPad | Еditor for plain text. It is designed to be a small and fast. Many plugins. | Free software |
| Alphatk | Proprietary | |
| Arachnophilia | Free software | |
| Atom | A modular, general-purpose editor built using HTML, CSS and JavaScript on top of Chromium and Node.js. | Free software |
| BBEdit | Proprietary | |
| BBEdit Lite | Freeware | |
| Bluefish | A web development editor. | Free software |
| Brackets | A modular, web-oriented editor built using HTML, CSS and JavaScript on top of the Chromium Embedded Framework. | Free software |
| CodeWright | Proprietary | |
| Crimson Editor | Freeware | |
| CudaText | Written in Object Pascal on Lazarus (IDE), thus cross platform native GUI. | Free software |
| CygnusEd (CED) | Proprietary | |
| E Text Editor | Default under IBMOS/2 versions 2-4[citation needed]. | Proprietary |
| Eddie | An editor originally made for BeOS and later ported to Linux and macOS. | Freeware |
| EditPlus | An editor with syntax highlighting and FTP. | Proprietary |
| EmEditor | Proprietary | |
| Epsilon | Proprietary | |
| FeatherPad | A lightweight editor based upon Qt . | Free software |
| Geany | A fast and lightweight editor / IDE, uses GTK+. | Free software |
| gedit | Default under GNOME.[2] | Free software |
| GoldED (text editor of Cubic IDE) | Proprietary | |
| GWD Text Editor | Proprietary | |
| HTML Kit | Freeware | |
| HxD for huge text files. | Freeware | |
| iA Writer | Proprietary | |
| jEdit | A free cross-platform programmer's editor written in Java, GPL licensed. | Free software |
| JOVE | Jonathan's Own Version of Emacs | Free software |
| JuffEd | A lightweight text editor written in Qt4. | Free software |
| Kate | A basic text editor for the KDE desktop. | Free software |
| Kedit | An editor with commands and Rexx macros similar to IBM XEDIT. | Proprietary |
| Kile | A user friendly TeX/LaTeX editor. | Free software |
| Komodo Edit | Free software | |
| KWrite | A default editor on KDE. | Free software |
| Lapis | An experimental text editor allowing multiple simultaneous edits of text in a multiple selection from a few examples provided by the user. | Free software |
| Leafpad | Default under LXDE.[3] and Xfce[citation needed] | Free software |
| LEd – LaTeX Editor | Freeware | |
| Leo | A text editor that features outlines with clones as its central tool of organization and navigation. | Free software |
| Light Table | A text editor and IDE with real-time, inline expression evaluation. Intended mainly for dynamic languages such as Clojure, Python and JavaScript, and for web development. | Free software |
| mcedit | A text editor provided with Midnight Commander. | Free software |
| Metapad | Windows Notepad replacement, GPL licensed. | Free software |
| MicroEMACS | Free software | |
| Mousepad | Previously the default under Xfce.[4] | Free software |
| Multi-Edit | Proprietary | |
| NEdit – 'Nirvana Editor' | Free software | |
| Notepad | Default under Microsoft Windows. | Proprietary |
| Notepad2 | Free software | |
| Notepad++ | A tabbed text editor. | Free software |
| NoteTab | Proprietary | |
| NoteTab Light | Freeware | |
| Pe | A text editor for BeOS. | Free software |
| Peppermint | An editor with a CoffeeScript/JavaScript API. | Proprietary |
| pluma | The default text editor of the MATE desktop environment for Linux. | Free software |
| PolyEdit | Proprietary | |
| Programmer's File Editor (PFE) | Freeware | |
| PSPad | An editor for Microsoft Windows with various programming environments. | Freeware |
| Q10 | A full screen text editor (Windows). | Freeware |
| RJ TextEd | Freeware | |
| RText | Free software | |
| Sam | Free software | |
| SciTE | Free software | |
| SimpleText | Default under Classic Mac OS from version 7.5.[5] | Proprietary |
| SlickEdit | Proprietary | |
| Smultron | A macOS text editor. | Proprietary |
| Source Insight | Proprietary | |
| SubEthaEdit (formerly called Hydra) | Proprietary | |
| Sublime Text | Proprietary | |
| TeachText | Default under Classic Mac OS versions prior to 7.5.[6] | Proprietary |
| TED Notepad | Freeware | |
| Tex-Edit Plus | Proprietary | |
| TextPad and Wildedit | Proprietary | |
| TeXnicCenter | Free software | |
| TeXShop | TeX/LaTeX editor and previewer. | Free software |
| TextEdit | Default under macOS,[7]NeXTSTEP[citation needed], and GNUstep.[citation needed] | Free software |
| TextMate | Free software | |
| TextWrangler | Mac-only editor by Bare Bones Software, sunsetted. Final version released 09/20/2016[8], replaced by free tier of [BBEdit][9]. | Freeware |
| The Hessling Editor | Free software | |
| The SemWare Editor (TSE) (formerly called QEdit). | Proprietary | |
| TopStyle | Proprietary | |
| UltraEdit | Text and source code editor with syntax highlighting, code folding, FTP etc. Handles multi-gigabyte files. | Proprietary |
| Ulysses | Proprietary | |
| VEDIT | Proprietary | |
| Visual Studio Code | An extensible code editor with support for development operations like debugging, task running and version control. | Free software |
| WinEdt | Proprietary | |
| X11 Xedit | Free software | |
| XEDIT | Default under VM/CMS. | Proprietary |
| Yudit | Free software |
Text user interface[edit]
System default[edit]
| Command | Description | License |
|---|---|---|
| E | is the text editor in PC DOS 6, PC DOS 7 and PC DOS 2000. | Proprietary |
| ed | The default line editor on Unix since the birth of Unix. Either ed or a compatible editor is available on all systems labeled as Unix (not by default on every one). | Free software |
| ED | The default editor on CP/M, MP/M, Concurrent CP/M, CP/M-86, MP/M-86, Concurrent CP/M-86. | Free software |
| EDIT | The default on MS-DOS 5.0 and higher and is included with all 32-bit versions of Windows that do not rely on a separate copy of DOS. Up to including MS-DOS 6.22, it only supported files up to 64 KB. | Proprietary |
| EDIT | The text editor in DR DOS 6.0, Novell DOS 7, OpenDOS 7.01, DR-DOS 7.02 and higher. Supports large files for as long as swap space is available. Version 7 and higher optionally supports a pseudo-graphics user interface named NewUI. | Proprietary |
| EDIX | The text editor in Concurrent DOS, Concurrent DOS XM, Concurrent PC DOS, Concurrent DOS 386, FlexOS 286, FlexOS 386, 4680 OS, 4690 OS, S5-DOS/MT. | Proprietary |
| EDITOR | The text editor in DR DOS 3.31 through DR DOS 5.0, and the predecessor of EDIT. | Proprietary |
| EDLIN | A command-line based line editor introduced with 86-DOS, and the default on MS-DOS prior to version 5 and is also available on MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows NT. | Proprietary |
| ee | Stands for Easy Editor, is part of the base system of FreeBSD, along with vi.[10] | Free software |
| nvi | (Installed as vi by default in BSD operating systems and some Linux distributions) – A free replacement for the original vi which maintains compatibility while adding some new features. | Free software |
| vi | The default for Unix systems and must be included in all POSIX compliant systems[11] – One of the earliest screen-based editors, it is based on ex. | Free software |
Others[edit]
| Command | Description | License |
|---|---|---|
| ECCE | ECCE (The Edinburgh Compatible Context Editor) is a text editor designed by Dr Hamish Dewar at Edinburgh University. | Free software |
| Emacs | A screen-based editor with an embedded computer language, Emacs Lisp. Early versions were implemented in TECO, see below. | Free software |
| JED | Multi-mode, multi-window editor with drop-down menus, folding, ctags support, undo, UTF-8, key-macros, autosave, etc. Multi-emulation; default is emacs. Programmable in S-Lang. | Free software |
| JOE | A modern screen-based editor with a sort of enhanced-WordStar style to the interface, but can also emulate Pico. | Free software |
| LE | Free software | |
| mcedit | Full featured terminal text editor for Unix-like systems. | Free software |
| mg | Small and light, uses GNU/Emacs keybindings. Installed by default on OpenBSD. | Free software |
| MinEd | Text editor with user-friendly interface, mouse and menu control, and extensive Unicode and CJK support; for Unix/Linux and Windows/DOS. | Free software |
| Nano | A clone of Pico GPL licensed. | Free software |
| ne | A minimal, modern replacement for vi. | Free software |
| Pico | Free software | |
| SETEDIT | A clone of the editor of Borland's Turbo* IDEs. | Free software |
| The SemWare Editor | (TSE for DOS) (formerly called QEdit) | Proprietary |
| Zile | Free software |
vi clones[edit]
| busybox vi | A small vi clone with a minimum of commands and features. | Free software |
| Elvis | The first vi clone and the default vi in Minix. | Free software |
| nvi | A new implementation and currently the standard vi in BSD distributions. | Free software |
| STEVIE | STEVIE (ST Editor for VI Enthusiasts) for the Atari ST, the starting point for vim and xvi | Free software |
| vile | Derived from an early version of Microemacs in an attempt to bring the Emacs multi-window/multi-buffer editing paradigm to vi users. First published 1991 with infinite undo, UTF-8 compatibility, multi-window/multi-buffer operation, a macro expansion language, syntax highlighting, file read and write hooks, and more. | Free software |
| vim | An extended version of the vi editor, with many additional features designed to be helpful in editing program source code. | Free software |
No user interface (editor libraries/toolkits)[edit]
| Name | Description | License |
|---|---|---|
| Cocoa text system | Supports text components of macOS. | Proprietary |
| Scintilla (editing component) | Used as the core of several text editors. | Free software |
| Text Processing Utility (TPU) | Language and runtime package, developed by DEC, used to implement the Language-Sensitive Editor and Extensible Versatile Editor, Eve. | Proprietary |
ASCII and ANSI art[edit]
Editors that are specifically designed for the creation of ASCII and ANSI text art.
- ACiDDraw – designed for editing ASCII text art. Supports ANSI color (ANSI X3.64)
- JavE – ASCII editor, portable to any platform running a Java GUI
- PabloDraw – ANSI/ASCII editor allowing multiple users to edit via TCP/IP network connections
- TheDraw – ANSI/ASCII text editor for DOS and PCBoard file format support
ASCII font editors[edit]
- FIGlet – for creating ASCII art text
- TheDraw – ANSI/ASCII text editor with built-in editor and manager of ASCII fonts
Historical[edit]
Visual and full-screen editors[edit]
- Brief – a programmer's editor for DOS and OS/2
- Edit application – a programmer's editor for Classic Mac OS
- EDIT – a menu-based editor introduced to supersede EDLIN in MS-DOS version 5.0 and up and available in most Microsoft Windows
- EDT – a character-based editor used on DECPDP-11s and VAXen
- O26 – written for the operator console of the CDC 6000 series machines in the mid-1960s
- Red – a VAX/VMS editor, written in Forth variant STOIC
- se – an early screen-based editor for Unix
- SED – cross-platform editor from the 1980s, ran on TOPS-10, TOPS-20 and VMS
- STET (the 'STructured Editing Tool') – may have been the first folding editor; its first version was written in 1977
- TECO – one of the most advanced character-based editors, which included a programming language. While usually described as a line editor, it included screen editing capabilities at least as early as 1965.
Line editors[edit]
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- Colossal Typewriter – an early editor thought to be written for the PDP-1
- ed:
- Unix's early line editor
- CP/M's line editor
- EDLIN – a line editor delivered with MS-DOS
- EDT (Univac) – a line editor for Unisys VS/9 and e Fujitsu BS2000 systems
- ex – an EXtended version of Unix's ed, later evolved into the visual editor vi
- fred – sed-like line editor used on the CDC 7600 at Los Alamos
- GEDIT (aka George 3 EDITor) – a TECO-like editor including a programming language for the GEC 4000 series computers. GEDIT was originally written by David Toll of Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and then adopted by GEC Computers for OS4000.
- sed – a non-interactive programmable stream editor available in Unix
- TECO – one of the most advanced character-based editors, which included a programming language
- TEDIT – GEC 4000 series editor based on the Cambridge Titan EDIT
See also[edit]
- Outliner, a specialized type of word processor
Notes[edit]
- ^'Textadept'. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
- ^'Apps/Gedit - GNOME Wiki!'. projects.gnome.org. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^'Leafpad'Archived 2008-10-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Xfce#Leafpad
- ^http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/0307163ASYS75UPG.pdf
- ^'System 2.0 (4.1/5.5) 800K Disk Contents (9/93)'. support.apple.com. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^'Mac Basics: TextEdit'. apple.com. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^Charles Moore (6 March 2017). 'So Long Textwrangler, Hello BBEdit'. macprices.net. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^'TextWrangler'. barebones.com. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^'3.10. Text Editors'. www.freebsd.org. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^'vi'. pubs.opengroup.org. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
Text Editors for Mac OS X are required for more advanced functions than the default text editors like helpful syntax highlighting, macro and tabs. We are in favor of Free Text Editors under GNU GPL or Compatible License. There are GPL-ed and Free from the beginning Text Editors for Mac. Do not use any closed source paid Text Editors for Mac OS X (many website promotes) and if possible try to contribute to make the good free Text Editors for Mac OS X more better by contribution. The paid and / closed source softwares are creating problems and confusion among our users. We will try to avoid writing about the paid and obviously demote them. The reason of demoting is, a person or a group of person if can give any software for free, its inhuman to publish a single line about the paid and / closed source softwares.
Basics of Text Editors for Mac OS X
Text editors born from the need to enter code of computer programs and data into the computer. The precursor of text editors were therefore hole punch cards. The history says that the he first Emacs implementation was by Richard Stallman along with the other developers. These powerful Text Editors has more features than the default TextEdit software of Mac; although feature wise TextEdit is far superior than Notepad, the default Text Editors for Windows OS. With the advent of computer terminals, CLI based text editors became important. One of the first programs of this group include the 1967 written O26 editor on CDC 6000 – mainframes and the vi editor from the year 1976. The Vi editor is still the standard text editor for unix like operating systems.
Most has extentionabillity, customization features, supports various programming language’s Syntax Highlighting. More powerful text editors can be used to run Macros, can have automatic code completion feature, automatic indentation, Display of call parameters for functions and methods etc. You can read about Syntax Highlighting separately.
List of Text Editors for Mac OS X
Emacs / GNU Emacs : Possibly the fore father of the current style of Text Editors. Details and download link can be found on FSF’s website :
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Aquamacs : Modified version of GNU Emacs. Can be downloaded from :
TextMate : TextMate comes as a free software :
TextMate is another software which is historically quite important. TextMate 1.5 won the Apple Design Award in 2006.
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Vim (Vi IMproved) for Mac OS X : Important because we use to edit the vimrc file for changing the color profile for syntax highlighting for command line simulator like iTerm2.
TextWrangler and BBEdit : Both supports Retina Display, quite well known advanced text editor for Mac OS X. TextWrangler can open the kext files.
Gedit : gedit is the official text editor of the GNOME desktop environment. We wrote about Windows Gedit before.
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Please add more names of Text Editors for Mac OS X (under GNU GPL or Compatible License) if you know to be actively existing, through comments.