I can’t believe that I’m actually saying this, but I may have stumbled across a text editor that is better than Notepad++! In yesterday’s Daily Downloads I included a free program called PSPad, which sounded like a nice text and code editor. The reason that I had come across it is that they recently released a new Beta version of the software, and so I decided to try it out.
It had the features that I was already familiar with in Notepad++, such as syntax highlighting, but it also had some more unique things. One of the things I quickly fell in love with was the built-in FTP connection manager which would let me browse a remote FTP, open files, edit them, and then save the changes. All of that is done from within PSPad, and I found that to be tremendously useful.
Another thing that I liked was the more advances syntax highlighting that it includes. For example, when you’re in an HTML file and you place your cursor in the middle of a tag, the matching open/close tag is highlighted. I do quite a bit HTML development, and I have quickly become accustomed to this new feature.
Here’s a list of other things that PSPad has to offer:
- Manage projects
- FTP client – edit files directly from the web (stores login information, too)
- Text difference with color-coded differences highlighted
- Syntax highlighting according to file type
- Auto correction
- Intelligent internal HTML preview using IE and Mozilla
- integrated TiDy library for formatting and checking HTML code, conversion to CSS, XML, XHTML
- Reformat and compress HTML code, tag character case change
- ASCII chart with HTML entities
- Code explorer for Pascal, C/C++, INI, HTML, XML, PHP and more in development
- Spell checker
- Matching bracket highlighting
There are also some PSPad extensions available to add more features, syntax highlighting for obscure languages, and many other things. Even if you are content with Notepad++ or another text editor I think you should give this a whirl…remember, it doesn’t cost a dime!
I’ve been using PSPad for years. The only thing I like better in Notepad++ is the code folding, but I can live without by using bookmarks instead.
BTW, Notepad++ does have an FTP plugin very similar to PSPad’s build in ftp functionality.
I’ve been using PSPad for a couple years. I’ve used it for all the HTML, PHP, and now MySQL I’ve been doing on the website I work for. It’s a great program and though I’ve tried out others, I always went back to PSPad.
I’ve tried what seems like nearly every major text editor available (Notepad++, Notepad2, Notetab, Programmer’s Notepad, Textpad, Crimson Editor, EditPad, OmniPad, …) and have not been able to find a better text editor than PSPad. It does have one or two features I’d like to see implemented better, but in terms of text manipulation I’ve never found anything that comes even close. Add in the ability to run it from a flash drive and the additional tools (e.g. hex editor, numeric base translator, color code translator), and you’ve got a clear winner. Biggest feature I’d like to see added is code folding.
BTW, for a comprehensive list of text editors, check the following link:
[en.wikipedia.org]
I’ve also been using PSPad as my primary text editor for some time. I love it! I love the way you can do HTML and PHP/ASP/etc. on the same file and it doesn’t just highlight one or the other, it does both intelligently! I also love the “Clips” feature.
I’ve used editplus for years but development seemed to stop or at the very least has been very slow. So I’ve been looking for a new editor lately and your post drove me to pspad and I love it. It has one of the main features I was looking for and that was ftp support like you mentioned. Seems like this will be my new editor for quite a while.
I do wish it had code folding, but I can live without that. I would say it’s the only thing it is missing.
I did notice that Notepad++ had the FTP plugin, but it didn’t seem to be as fast as the one in PSPad. Not only that but I much rather have vital things like that integrated into the program.
Sounds like you’ve tried them all! I’ve tried about half of those, and I think this does stack up very well.
I noticed the Clip a block option in the menu, but hadn’t ventured to see what it did. That’s pretty cool being able to store clips of text for fast insertion later on.
No way. I already knew about PSPad but I still prefer Notepad++. It’s simple, easy and doesn’t have any bells and whistles that you don’t need anyway.
excellent text editor indeed. But i believe PS pad is not open source. is it?
PSPad is open source ;p. I’ve been using it for a couple of month’s now, and i would really recommend it. Personally i think it is better than C++ becouse its is a lot easier to use: u can do both, programming (html, xhtml, htm etc.) and scripting.
@Pieter: what about the bells and whistles? it isnt hard to disable unwanted toolboxes and taskbars?
there is only ONE thing in what PSPad disappoints me, i gotto save the file before i can run it. i would like to have autosave (gz on me i know how to script
)
one feature I really like about PSPad is that you can run the file without saving it
That way you can quickly paste something in it and hit the keyboard shortcut for your app to run it 
and if some text is selected then pspad only runs the selected code
PSPad is not open-source. Is it really that important, though? There are plenty of closed-source commercial and freeware applications that are just as good if not better than their open-source counterparts. Being open-source does not make the software better. PSPad is guaranteed to be 100% free by Softpedia, and that’s good enough for me.
As for the software itself, I find it to be a bit cluttered. It has way to many features that I don’t need, yet it also has a few useful features that I’ve wanted for some time, such as a color selector and character table. Direct editing through FTP is something that I’ve been craving for ages. It is somewhat disorderly, and I’m going to miss code folding, but PSPad seems to be the most productive text editor I’ve ever used.
No, it’s not, but as long as it’s free I don’t care.
That’s what I was thinking, too. If all you look for are open source applications then I think you will be disappointed with what you find. Just be grateful that there are such good programs out there that are free.
It does have quite a bit of clutter to it, but I chopped out some of the toolbars so that it isn’t so bad.
I am also using PsPad for more than 4 years now, mainly for PHP and HTML. I couldn’t find a better editor overall. Two main problems are missing Code Folding and difficulty in editing very large files (very slow).
Yeah, is a good editor.
It’s a tough choice . . . I use both .. depending on my mood .. LOL!
1 – I use FileZilla as my free FTP .. can’t be beat.
2 – PSPad has clips and some HTML built-in functionality
3 – Notepadd++ has code-folding and runs cleaner/faster
Conclusion: I will switch back and forth every year so I feel like I have a new toy.
I’ve used PSPad for many years and am still using it.
It is a bit of a shame that it’s not open, since this prevents people from adding features that the current author(s?) don’t get around to. On the other hand, PSPad is already so complete that it’s hard to think of serious features I would want to add.
Main problem I have with PSPad (and where Notepad++ performed a bit better) is in dealing with HUGE files. For example, opening a several 100Mb log will bring PSPad to its knees. The only text editor I know (and have used in the past) that doesn’t have this limitation is UltraEdit-32, which also sports a slightly better hexeditor. But the price of UE32 is very high and it’s hard to beat ‘free’.
Some annoying bugs have been around in PSpad for several years now though, so I get the feeling development has pretty much come to a standstill.
Notepad++ does have FTP built-in but it’s a subpar ftp client in itself. Does PSPad support high-level FTP management?
Grismar wrote:
“Main problem I have with PSPad (and where Notepad++ performed a bit better) is in dealing with HUGE files. For example, opening a several 100Mb log will bring PSPad to its knees. The only text editor I know (and have used in the past) that doesn’t have this limitation is UltraEdit-32, which also sports a slightly better hexeditor. But the price of UE32 is very high and it’s hard to beat ‘free’.”
I have used many text editors over the years and PSPad is one of the best I have seen. I mostly use TextPad for historic reasons, but discovered PSPad a while back and it has been slowly growing on me. I have also used UltraEdit-32, Notepad++, ISPF and Brief. This last one was a real favourite in the DOS days. I echo Grismar’s comments about large files, and Notepad++ and Textpad are better in this respect as is UltraEdit-32, but even UltraEdit can be floored by really HUGE files. By HUGE, I mean something like 50Gb (yes that’s Gigabytes). The ONLY editor I have seen handle these beasts is Vedit by Greenview data. This application cannot be beaten when you have a really large file to edit. It will load the file in seconds and pages the file in as required. It will also edit just about any file you like, binary or text.
Just my 10c worth…M
PSPad better than Notepad++ (at least for HTML source reformatting)
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I must thank the careful and accurate reviews above.
I enjoyed for years editing my HTML with Outlook Express and Notepad++ (OE for formatting after I dropped the TextFX Html Tidy in Notepad++ years ago because too unreliable: when source was complex, Tidy would too often cripple it and make it unable to render in Chrome or IE).
Now I recently replaced my previous laptop (Windows XP Pro Multilingual SP3, Chrome 12, IE6, OE6) but my new OS (Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit) unfortunately offers or accepts no replacement for the good old OE.
So I went [google.com]+HTML+source+in+Notepad%2B%2B which, among the myriads so-called “results”, gave me this valuable page. I had heard of PSPad long ago but the above reviews made me trust them and try PSPad (v4.5.5 unicode 2417 English 14 Mar 2011) – and I am glad I did: it does reformat the source, complete the missing closing tags (or closing slashes), indents it properly (+30% in volume) or shrinks it properly (-5% from original), all this with no error (rendering tested). Thanks!
Versailles, Sat 30 Jul 2011 18:09:20 +0200
1) I submit a carefully written THANKS for your forum
2) what I get as reply is:
Hmmm, you should try twiddling your thumbs while you wait. We’ll keep processing this request, but try resubmitting the comment. Then we’ll take whatever one comes back first.
3) Faced with this sort of “welcome”, I will certainly NOT waste any more time just to thank such people!
Versailles, Sat 30 Jul 2011 18:21:00 +0200
Sorry Michel – that just means that the connection from your browser to our server may have been lost while commenting. It looks like your comment still came through though. Thanks for stopping by!
I also use PsPad. However my favourite code editor is WeBuilder by Bluementals, it’s ultra fast, has everything you need but not bloated and a nicer feel than PsPad. Only thing it’s quite expensive but worth the price if you can afford it.