Notepad++ arguably one of the best free text editor. Now you can install it in Ubuntu too
( Read – Install Notepad++ in Ubuntu ).
There are many features available in Notepad++. Few of them are explained here.
( Version — V6.1.5 )
1. Style configuration – Font, Background Color, Syntax highlighting, Font color etc
In the menu click Settings –> Style Configurator
There are many options for Setting style as your favourite language, default style,font etc.
Global style is applicable for all files. You can set each language different style.
See below example for an SQL and C program file Syntax highlighting
abc.sql
abc.c
2. Column editing ( Vertical editing )
Column editing feature is very useful. I think many of the modern text editors lack this feature.
Keyboard Shortcuts – press Alt+Mouse or Alt+Shift+Down Arrow Key
Menu – Edit –> Column mode
This is very useful when you have many line items with similar text items.
3. Clipboard History
Clipboard History shows all text copied recently.
Menu — Edit –> Clipboard History
4. ASCII Chart
Many developers like ASCII Chart handy. Notepad++ has it.
Menu — Edit –> Character Panel
5. Multiple Tabs
Can open files in different tabs
Menu — View –>
6. Google search integration
Suppose I need some help on a keyword “stdio.h”. No need to open a browser separately and Notepad++ will do it for you. Just highlight the word you want to google and click Run –> Google Search or press Alt+F2.
Also you have many other features in Run menu. Wikipedia Search, Open in many browsers etc.
7. Bookmarks
You can set bookmarks and go through bookmarks.
Menu – Search –> Bookmark –>
8. Find in files
This is an operating system command tool. You can find files in a directory for a word or something
Menu — Search –> Search in Files
Keyboard — Ctrl+Shift+F
9. Upper-case and Lower-case
Menu — Edit –> Convert Case to
Upper-Case – Ctrl+Shift+U
Lower-Case – Shift+U
10. Zoom (Increase/Decrease the Font size dynamically )
Zoom up and down using
Mouse — Ctrl+Mouse+Wheel Up and Don
Keyboard — Ctrl+Num+/-
Menu — View –> Zoom –>
Note :-If you are running Notepad++ in Ubuntu, some of the features may not work as in Windows.
My friends used Notepad++. I never used this. But My friends told me it’s very nice….
Thank you thank you for these tips! I have been using NotePad++ for many years now and several of these are new to me.
Thanks for your comment.
Anyone could give me a tip how to syntax-highlight (T)SQL code in an SQL string literal?
The syntax highlighter highlights it as “string literal”, which is kind of true, but since I’m generating dynamic SQL (yes, this is one of the rare cases when it is the only valid solution), it would really make be nice if it could be done.
I used Menu — Edit –> Character Panel once before, but now it suddenly stopped working. No panel appears. Is this some kind of setting?
There is also a dedicated SQL formatter for Notepad++ it can be found at http://www.sqlinform.com (I wrote it)
Thanks for the information! I want to add one more tool to this list – I use SQL Formatter to make my code better. This is an online service Online SQL Formatter