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Notepad++ is a free (as in "free speech" and also as in "free beer") source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages.
Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.

Based on a powerful editing component Scintilla, Notepad++ is written in C++ and uses pure Win32 API and STL which ensures a higher execution speed and smaller program size. By optimizing as many routines as possible without losing user friendliness, Notepad++ is trying to reduce the world carbon dioxide emissions. When using less CPU power, the PC can throttle down and reduce power consumption, resulting in a greener environment.

This project is mature. However, there may be still some bugs and missing features that are being worked on.

I hope you enjoy Notepad++ as much as I enjoy coding it.


Here are the features of Notepad++ :


Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding 

Supported languages:

C
C++
Java
C#
XML
HTML
PHP
CSS
makefile
ASCII art (.nfo)
doxygen
ini file
batch file
Javascript
ASP
VB/VBS
SQL
Objective-C
RC resource file
Pascal
Perl
Python
Lua
TeX
TCL
Assembler
Ruby
Lisp
Scheme
Properties
Diff
Smalltalk
Postscript
VHDL
Ada
Caml
AutoIt
KiXtart
Matlab
Verilog
Haskell
InnoSetup
CMake
YAML


WYSIWYG 

If you have a colour printer, print your source code (or whatever you want) in colour.


User Defined Syntax Highlighting 

It allows user to define his own language : not only the syntax highlighting keywords, but also the syntax folding keywords, comment keywords and the operators.


Auto-completion 

For most supported languages, user can make his/her own API list.
Once the api file is ready, type Ctrl+Space to launch this action.


Multi-Document 

You can edit several documents at the same time.


Multi-View 

You have two views at same time. That means you can visualize (edit) 2 different documents at the same time. You can visualize (edit) in the 2 views one document at 2 different positions as well. The modification of document in one view will carry out in another view (i.e. you modify the SAME document when you are in clone mode). 


Regular Expression Search/Replace supported 

You can search and replace one string in the document by using the regular expression.


Full Drag ‘N' Drop supported 

You can open a document by drag & drop.
You can also move your document from a position (or even a view) to another by drag & drop. 


Dynamic position of Views 

The user can set the position of the views dynamically (only in 2 views mode : the splitter can be set in horizontal or in vertical). 


File Status Auto-detection 

If you modify or delete a file which opened in Notepad++, you will be notified to update your document (reload the file or remove the file). 


Zoom in and zoom out 

That's another fantastic function of Scintilla component.


Multi-Language environment supported 

The Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic and Hebrew Windows environments are supported.


Bookmark 

User can just click on the bookmark margin (located right side of line number margin) or type Ctrl+F2 to toggle a book mark.
To reach the bookmark, type just F2 (Next bookmark) or Shift+F2 (Previous bookmark). To clear all bookmarks, click the Menu Search->Clear All bookmarks.


Brace and Indent guideline Highlighting 

When the caret stay beside of one of those symbol { } [ ] ( ) , the symbol beside of caret and its symmetric opposite symbol will be highlighted, as well as the indent guideline (if any) in order to locate the block more easily.


Macro recording and playback 

You can save several macros and edit their keyboard shorcuts for the next use.


Changelog:


Notepad++ v5.5 new features and fixed bugs (from v5.4.5) :


Update : Upgrade Scintilla from v1.78 to v2.01.


New icon : Change from old icon to a cool chamelon icon.


New feature : Virtual space for column mode.

New feature : Multi-editing / selection.

New feature : Tab settings for per language.

New feature : Selected lines moving up/down capacity.

New feature : Incremental Search shows pink background when text not found (like Firefox).

New feature : Rational number is recognized in User Defined Language System.

New feature : Escape character capacity for the delimiter in User Defined Language System.


Bug fixed : Tool bar tip crash issue.

Bug fixed : Column editor inserting octal number broken issue.


Changed behaviour : "-nosession" parameter's not only none of session is loaded, but also none of session is saved.


Bug fixed : Docking feature crash issue.


New feature : The ability to not launch Auto-updater during a period (15 days by default).

New feature : Import plugins feature (load on the fly).

New feature : Import theme (stylers.xml) feature.


Bug fixed : A crash issue while launch Fin in file (regression since v5.4.5).

Bug fixed : A crash issue while deleting the last line.

Bug fixed : A bug of plugin message NPPM_GETPLUGINSCONFIGDIR (regression since v5.4.5).


New feature : New plugin notification NPPN_DOCORDERCHANGED to notify plugins that document order is changed.


Bug fixed : Tool bar chevron disappeared bug (regression since previous versions).

Bug fixed : A crash bug due to instability of FTP_synchronize plugin (enhance Docking feature).

Bug fixed : Getting fonts problem under Chines/Korean/Japanese environment.

Bug fixed : Wrong File encoding auto-detection problem : binary file is detected as UTF-16 big-endian.


Included plugins (Unicode):

1. TextFX v0.26
2. NppExec v0.3.2
3. Spell Checker v1.3.3
4. MIME Tools v1.5
5. NppExport v0.2.8
6. Doc Monitor v2.2
7. NppNetNote v0.1
8. Compare Plugin 1.5.5
9. Plugin Manager 0.9.2.1

Included plugins (ANSI):

1. TextFX v0.25
2. NppExec v0.3.2
3. Spell Checker v1.3.3
4. MIME Tools v1.5
5. NppExport v0.2.8
6. Light Explorer v1.5
7. Doc Monitor v2.2
8. NppNetNote v0.1
9. Compare Plugin 1.5.5
10. Plugin Manager 0.9.2.1