TextPad

TextPad is a text editor for the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. It is produced by Helios Software Solutions. It is currently in its eighth major version.[2]

TextPad
Developer(s)Helios Software Solutions
Initial release1992 (1992)
Stable release
7.6.4,
8.2.0[1] / May 26, 2019 (2019-05-26)
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Size~6.0 MB
TypeText editor
LicenseProprietary
Websitetextpad.com

TextPad was initially released in 1992[3] as shareware, with users requested to pay a registration fee to support future development.[4] As of 1996 the company was an associate member of the Association of Shareware Professionals.[5] By 1998 the company was pointing out that the editor was "shareware (try before you buy)" and payment was necessary to use it.[6]

Features

Key features include:[7]

  • The ability to maintain block indents
  • Automatic code indentation (see indent style)
  • Regular expression based search and replace, including multiline regex
  • Macro recording feature to facilitate complex text transformations and data processing.[8]
    • Macro feature supports multiple regex searches (and replacements) within a macro
  • Syntax highlighting (extendable to many different languages)[9]
  • Ability to call external programs (such as compilers)
    • Regex matching can be used to jump to a line number in a file given in the output from external programs (e.g. to locate the cause of a compiler error)
    • Automatic integration with Java JDK, if JDK is already on the machine
  • Large file support[8]
  • Support for editing multiple files, with tabbed document selection[8]
  • Block select mode
  • Synchronized scrolling of multiple files
  • Clip libraries – snippet management for reusable portions of text to insert into documents
  • Clipboard history – Allowing TextPad to function as a multiple clipboard tool
  • Bookmarking of lines, therefore allowing users to copy specific lines (e.g. log file error messages), and then paste them to another document.
  • Multi-lingual support: User interface is available in seven languages with spelling dictionaries available in ten languages.

Clip Library

The Clip Library is a TextPad sidebar that allows users to store small items persistently, and then use them easily. This is done by double clicking clip names in the Clip Library sidebar. In other editors such as Komodo, a clip library is known as "snippets".

TextPad comes with a number of pre-defined clip libraries, including ANSI characters, HTML characters and HTML tags. A very useful clip library is the Clipboard History. This is a list of previous Clipboard contents. So even though the standard Windows Clipboard can only hold one piece of information, the TextPad Clipboard History Clip Library can access a whole history of entries. See also clipboard managers.

You can create your own new clip libraries, and there are many clip libraries available.[10]

Reception

TextPad has received generally favorable reviews. In 2015 Mike Williams of PC Advisor called it "an excellent Notepad replacement with a stack of essential features."[11] Download.com described it in 2014 as an affordable editor suited for coding, "neither the most powerful nor most expensive shareware text tool, though many users will find it more than meets their needs at a fraction of the cost of similar tools."[12]

See also

References
  1. "Textpad Release Notes". textpad.com.
  2. "TextPad - the text editor for Windows". Helios Software Solutions. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  3. Paul Wallace; Andrea Hoffmann (2002). I-mode Developer's Guide. Addison-Wesley Professional. p. v. ISBN 978-0-672-32188-7.
  4. "TextPad Purchasing Information". Helios Software Solutions. Archived from the original on 1 December 1996.
  5. "TextPad home page". Helios Software Solutions. Archived from the original on 1 December 1996.
  6. "Download TextPad 3.1". Helios Software Solutions. Archived from the original on 15 January 1998.
  7. "TextPad Features". Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  8. "TextPad Summary". Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  9. "TextPad Syntax Definition Files A-G". Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  10. "TextPad Add-ons: Clip Libraries". Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  11. "PCAdvisor review of TextPad". 27 June 2015.
  12. "CNET Download.com review of TextPad". 7 December 2014.
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