Compare Notepad vs. Notepad++ vs. jEdit

For over three decades, Notepad has served as the quick and straightforward text editor for Windows, and it can now be found in the Microsoft Store! This tool allows users to instantly view, edit, and search through plain text documents and source code files. You can modify text-based files and source code with ease, and personalize your viewing experience with various font options. It supports multiple encoding formats, including UTF-8, UTF-16, and ANSI, and is compatible with Windows 10 version 19541.0 or higher. While Notepad focuses on fundamental text manipulation tasks like searching and replacing text, it was limited in functionality until the advent of Windows ME, lacking keyboard shortcuts and a line-counting feature. After Windows 2000 was released, it introduced shortcuts for commonly used commands such as "New", "Open", and "Save", along with a status bar that displays the line count when word-wrap is turned off. Additionally, Notepad has the capability to print documents, allowing users to customize headers, footers, and margins prior to printing. Various codes can be used to include the date, file name, and other details in the headers and footers, enhancing the utility of this simple yet effective tool. Overall, Notepad remains a reliable choice for users looking for a basic text editing solution with essential features.

Notepad++ serves as a free alternative to traditional Notepad and is designed for editing source code across various programming languages. Functioning within the Microsoft Windows ecosystem, it operates under the terms of the GNU General Public License. The editor is built on the robust Scintilla editing framework and is developed using C++, making use of the pure Win32 API and Standard Template Library (STL) to achieve enhanced execution speed and a compact file size. By optimizing numerous processes while maintaining user-friendliness, Notepad++ aims to contribute to the reduction of global carbon dioxide emissions. The software’s efficiency allows computers to use less CPU power, enabling them to operate at lower energy levels, which in turn leads to reduced power consumption and a more sustainable environment. This approach exemplifies how software development can align with eco-friendly initiatives.

jEdit stands out as a well-established text editor for programmers, boasting a development history that spans hundreds of person-years, especially when factoring in the creation of plugins. This robust editor surpasses many costly alternatives in terms of functionality and user-friendliness, all while being offered as free software with complete source code under the GPL 2.0 license. It includes a built-in macro language and an extensible architecture for plugins, with a vast selection of macros and plugins readily available. Users can easily download and install these plugins directly from jEdit through the convenient "plugin manager" feature. Additionally, jEdit supports a wide variety of character encodings, such as UTF-8 and Unicode, making it highly versatile. It is designed to be configurable and customizable, encompassing all the essential and advanced features one would anticipate in a modern text editor, ensuring it meets the diverse needs of its users. As a result, jEdit remains a compelling choice for developers seeking a powerful yet accessible tool for their coding tasks.