Comparison of text editors

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article provides a basic feature comparison for several text editors. Additional feature details are available from the Category of text editor features and from the individual products' articles. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date.

The comparisons are made on the stable versions of software – not the upcoming versions or beta releases – and without the use of any add-ons, extensions or external programs (unless specified in footnotes).

Contents

List of text editors
Creator First public release Latest stable version Cost (US$) Software license Open source
Acme Rob Pike 1993 Distributed with the 4th Edition of Plan 9 and Inferno Free LPL, (OSI approved) Yes
Alpha Pete Keleher (now part of the Alpha-development team) 1990 8.0 $40 shareware Core is closed source. Additional BSD components No
Alphatk Vince Darley 1999 8.3.3 $40 Proprietary, with BSD components No
Aquamacs Emacs David Reitter 2005 0.9.9d Free GPL Yes
BBEdit Rich Siegel April 1992 8.6 $125, $49 educational Proprietary No
BDV Notepad Badevlad company 2002 5.0 Free Freeware No
Bix Tim Babb 2005 1.2 Free for non-commercial use Proprietary No
Bluefish Bluefish Development Team 1999 1.0.7 Free GPL Yes
Boxer David Hamel 1991 11.0.1 $59.99 Shareware No
ConTEXT Eden Kirin 1999 0.98.3 Free Proprietary No
Crimson Editor Ingyu Kang ? 3.7 Free Proprietary Yes
CRiSP Paul D. Fox 1986 9.1.2c $99, plus commercial licensing Proprietary No
Cssed Iago Rubio 2003 0.4.0 Free GPL Yes
Diakonos Pistos 2004 0.8.3 Free GPL Yes
ed Ken Thompson 1970 unchanged from original Free Free
EditPlus ES-Computing 20 March 1998 2.30 $30 (1-user) Proprietary No
EditPad Lite JustGreatSoftware 1996 6.1.2 Free Freeware No
EditPad Pro JustGreatSoftware 1996 6.1.2 $49.95 Shareware No
gedit GNU Project 2000 2.16.2 Free GPL Yes
GridinSoft Notepad GridinSoft 2003 3.2 $35 (Pro), $19 (Home) Shareware No
GNU Emacs Richard Stallman 1984 21.4 Free GPL Yes
Google Docs & Spreadsheets Google 2006 beta Free Proprietary No
HAPedit freeDaniLab 1999 3.11 (11.111) Free Freeware No
JED John E. Davis 1999 (?) 0.99-18 Free GPL Yes
jEdit Slava Pestov 1998 (?) 4.3 Free GPL Yes
JOE Joseph Allen 1990 3.4 Free GPL Yes
Kate KDE Project December 2000 2.5.4 Free GPL Yes
KWrite KDE Project 2000 4.5 Free GPL Yes
MadEdit Alston Chen 2004 0.2.6 Free GPL Yes
Metapad Alexander Davidson 1999 3.51 Free Freeware No
mined Thomas Wolff 1992 2000.12 Free GPL Yes
Nano GNU Project 1999 2.0.3 Free GPL Yes
NEdit Mark Edel 1991 5.5 Free GPL Yes
Notepad Microsoft 1985 6.0 Bundled with Microsoft Windows Proprietary No
Notepad++ Don Ho November 25, 2003 4.0.2 Free GPL Yes
Notepad2 Florian Balmer April 2004 1.0.12 Free GPL Yes
Notetab Eric Fookes, Fookes Software 1995 4.95 Free, $10 Standard, $20 Pro Proprietary No
nvi Keith Bostic ? 1.79 Free BSD license Yes
Pico University of Washington ? 4.64 Free Proprietary No
Professional Notepad ATech Group 2004 2.9 $18 Shareware No
Programmer's Notepad Simon Steele 2002 2.0.6.1 Free BSD license Yes
PSPad Jan Fiala 2002 4.5.2 Freeware Proprietary No
SciTE Neil Hodgson March 1999 1.72 Free GPL Yes
skEdit Sean Kelly, skti 2002 3.6 $24.95 for a Lifetime license Proprietary No
SlickEdit SlickEdit, Inc. 1988 11.0.2 $299 Proprietary No
Smultron Peter Borg 2004 2.0.3 Free BSD Yes
SubEthaEdit TheCodingMonkeys 2003 2.5.1 $35 for commercial use Proprietary No
TED Notepad Juraj Simlovic 2001 4.5.1 Free Freeware No
TextEdit Apple Computer ? 1.4 Bundled with Mac OS X Proprietary No
TextPad Helios Software Solutions 1992 5.0 £16.50 ($32.40) Shareware No
TextMate MacroMates 10 October 2004 1.5.4 €39 Proprietary, with MIT components No
TextWrangler Bare Bones Software ? 2.2 Freeware Proprietary No
UltraEdit IDM Computer Solutions 1994 13.00 $49.95 Proprietary No
Vim Bram Moolenaar 1991 7.0 Free GPL-compatible Yes
XEmacs Lucid Inc. 1991 21.4 Free GPL Yes
Zeus Xidicone P/L 1995 3.96 $49.95 Shareware No
Creator First public release Latest stable version Cost (US$) Software license Open source

This section lists the operating systems that different editors can run on. Some editors run on additional operating systems that are not listed.

Text editor support for various operating systems
Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix OpenVMS
Acme Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bluefish Yes † Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Cssed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Diakonos Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
ed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
EditPad Lite Yes No Yes † No No No
EditPad Pro Yes No Yes † No No No
gedit No Yes † Yes Yes Yes No
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
JED Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
jEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
JOE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Kate No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
KWrite No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
MadEdit Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
mined Yes † Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Nano Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
NEdit Yes Yes † Yes Yes Yes Yes
nvi No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Pico No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Scite Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
SlickEdit Yes Yes † Yes No Yes No
Vim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix OpenVMS
  • ↑  Bluefish runs on Windows using Cygwin; native win32 port in progress.
  • ↑  The most recent version (6.1.2) of EditPad Pro is not available for Linux. Therefore some of its listed features in the following sections may not be available to Linux users.
  • ↑  gedit, NEdit and SlickEdit run in the X11 window environment, and therefore do not use the native Aqua look-and-feel when running on Mac OS X.
  • ↑  mined runs on Windows using either cygwin (via an X terminal or a stand-alone rxvt) or in command prompt window (with the DOS version).

Text editor support for common document interfaces
Single document interface Single document window splitting Multiple document interface
Overlappable windows Tabbed document interface Window splitting
Acme Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Alpha Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Aquamacs Emacs Yes Yes Yes No † Yes
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes No
BDV Notepad Yes No No No No
Bluefish Yes No Yes Yes No
Boxer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ConTEXT No No Yes Yes No
Crimson Editor No Yes Yes Yes Yes
CRiSP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Cssed No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Diakonos Yes No No No No
ed Yes No No No No
EditPad Lite Yes No No Yes No
EditPad Pro Yes No Yes Yes No
EditPlus No Yes Yes Yes Yes
gedit Yes No Yes Yes No
GridinSoft Notepad Yes No Yes Yes No
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes No † Yes
JED No Yes No No Yes
jEdit Yes Yes No Yes Yes
JOE No Yes No Yes Yes
Kate No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Single document interface Single document window splitting Multiple document interface
Overlappable windows Tabbed document interface Window splitting
KWrite Yes No No No No
MadEdit Yes No No Yes No
Metapad Yes No No No No
mined Yes No No † No No
Nano Yes No No No No
NEdit Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Notepad Yes No No No No
Notepad++ No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notepad2 Yes No No No No
Notetab Yes ? ? Yes ?
nvi Yes Yes No No No
Pico Yes No No No No
Professional Notepad Yes No No No No
PSPad No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Scite Yes No No Yes No
skEdit Yes Yes No Yes No
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Smultron Yes Yes No Yes No
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes No No No
TextPad No † Yes Yes Yes No
TextMate Yes No No Yes No
TextWrangler Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
UltraEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Vim Yes Yes Yes † Yes † Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Zeus No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Single document interface Single document window splitting Overlappable windows Tabbed document interface Window splitting
Multiple document interface
  • ↑  Aquamacs Emacs and GNU Emacs can use a tabbed document interface in a non OS-native way, using the tabbar plug-in.
  • ↑  'mined' supports Copy/Paste between multiple documents in separate windows, when these documents are in separate terminal windows
  • ↑  TextPad comes very close to SDI when configured to "allow multiple instances to run" (under Configure/Preferences/General).
  • ↑  Provided GVim is used.
  • ↑  Vim version 7 supports a tabbed document interface. Earlier versions can use a script shown here.

Text editor support for basic editing features
Spell checking Regex-based find & replace Encoding conversion New-line conversion
Acme No Yes No No
Alpha Yes Yes No Yes
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes Yes
Aquamacs Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes
BDV Notepad No Yes Yes Yes
Bluefish Yes Yes Yes ?
Boxer Yes Yes Yes Yes
ConTEXT No Yes Partial † Yes
Crimson Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes
Cssed No Yes No Yes
Diakonos No Yes No No
ed No Yes No No
EditPad Lite No No Yes Yes
EditPad Pro Yes Yes Yes Yes
EditPlus Yes Yes Yes Yes
gedit Yes † No Yes No
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes
GridinSoft Notepad Yes Yes Yes Yes
JED Yes Yes Yes Yes
jEdit Yes † Yes Yes Yes
JOE Yes † Yes † Yes Yes
Kate Yes Yes Yes Yes
KWrite Yes Yes Yes Yes
MadEdit No Yes Yes Yes
Metapad Yes † No Yes Yes
mined No Yes Yes † Yes †
Nano Yes Yes No Yes
NEdit Yes † Yes No Yes
Notepad No No No No
Notepad++ No Yes Yes Yes
Notepad2 No Yes Yes Yes
Notetab Yes Yes Yes Yes
nvi No Yes No No
Pico Yes No No No
Professional Notepad No Yes Yes No
PSPad Yes Yes Yes Yes
Scite No Yes Yes Yes
skEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes
SlickEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes
SubEthaEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes
TED Notepad No No No Yes
TextEdit Yes No Yes Yes
TextMate Yes Yes Partial Yes
TextPad Yes Yes Yes Yes
TextWrangler Yes Yes Yes Yes
UltraEdit Yes Yes † Yes Yes
Vim Yes † Yes Yes Yes
XEmacs Yes Yes Yes Yes
Zeus Yes Yes Yes Yes
Spell checking Regex-based find & replace Encoding conversion New-line conversion
  • ↑  ConTEXT only supports converting text to UTF-16. Also, it can only use one type of new-line format if converting to UTF-16.
  • ↑  gedit supports spell checking via a plugin, which is distributed with gedit.
  • ↑  jEdit supports spell checking via an external plugin.
  • ↑  JOE supports spell checking via the ispell or aspell external plugins.
  • ↑  JOE uses a non-standard regular expression syntax.
  • ↑  Metapad spell checking requires the aspell plugin.
  • ↑  mined can convert the encoding format when using the Copy & Paste feature between multiple documents (that have different encodings).
  • ↑  mined supports new-line conversion via a command-line option. Different types of new-line format have different visual indications.
  • ↑  NEdit supports spell checking via a plugin
  • ↑  UltraEdit used a non-standard regular expression syntax in earlier versions, but now supports its proprietary format and PCREs.
  • ↑  Vim version 7 supports spell checking natively. Earlier versions require a script shown here.

Text editor support for programming features (see source code editor)
Syntax highlighting Multiple undo/redo Rectangular block selection Bracket matching Auto indentation Auto completion Code folding Text folding Compiler integration
Acme No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Alpha Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Alphatk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Aquamacs Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BBEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BDV Notepad No Yes No No No No No No No
Bluefish Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes No No No
Boxer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Crimson Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
ConTEXT Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
CRiSP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Cssed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Diakonos Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No
ed No No No No No No No No No
EditPad Lite No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No
EditPad Pro Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
EditPlus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
gedit Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes†
GridinSoft Notepad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
GNU Emacs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
JED Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
jEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
JOE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
Kate Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
KWrite Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
MadEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Metapad No Yes No No Yes No No No No
mined Yes † No No Yes Yes No No No No
Nano Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No
NEdit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes† No No Yes
Notepad No No No No No No No No No
Notepad++ Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes † Yes Yes Yes
Notepad2 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Notetab Yes Yes ? No ? Yes ? ? Yes</