Best Text Editors for Lua

A highly advanced text editor designed for coding, markup, and writing. With the Goto Anything feature, you can quickly access files using minimal keystrokes and effortlessly navigate to symbols, lines, or specific words. This editor allows you to make multiple edits simultaneously rather than repeating one change multiple times. Thanks to multiple selections, you can efficiently modify numerous lines at once, easily rename variables, and handle files more rapidly than you ever thought possible. The Command Palette provides access to less frequently used features, such as sorting, syntax adjustments, and indentation modifications. By entering just a few keystrokes, you can search for exactly what you need without the hassle of navigating through menus or remembering complex key commands. Additionally, Sublime Text boasts a robust Python API that enables the development of plugins to enhance its existing capabilities. With the ability to install Package Control through the command palette, you gain straightforward access to a wealth of community-created packages that can extend the editor's functionality even further. This makes it an invaluable tool for anyone looking to streamline their coding or writing process.

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.

Apache NetBeans is a dynamic, open-source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that supports the development of applications in various programming languages, such as Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML5, and C/C++. Renowned for its modular framework, NetBeans equips developers with a comprehensive suite of tools and features tailored for creating desktop, mobile, and web applications. It boasts advanced code editing, debugging, and profiling functionalities, as well as an integrated visual GUI builder for crafting user interfaces in Java. Additionally, NetBeans provides support for multiple version control systems like Git, SVN, and Mercurial, enhancing collaborative efforts among teams. As a project under the Apache Software Foundation, NetBeans is continually refined by a vibrant community dedicated to expanding its capabilities, ensuring it remains a dependable and adaptable option for developers in numerous fields. Furthermore, its extensive documentation and tutorials make it accessible for both novice and experienced programmers alike.

TextMate is a robust and highly customizable text editor that supports a vast array of programming languages and is developed under an open-source license. The editor simplifies the process of making multiple edits simultaneously by allowing users to easily add several insertion points for quick code alterations. Users can specify their search criteria, and TextMate efficiently displays results, enabling quick navigation between matches, extraction of relevant text, or previewing intended replacements. It also features a file browser that highlights changes, an editor view that marks modified lines, and the ability to generate diffs for the current file's alterations, all while seamlessly integrating with major version control systems. Whether you're dealing with files that incorporate multiple languages, projects that utilize various build systems, or third-party code with different formatting styles, TextMate adeptly manages it all by linking comprehensive scope selectors to keyboard shortcuts and customized settings. Additionally, this flexibility ensures that developers can maintain their preferred workflows while efficiently navigating complex coding environments.

Geany stands out as a robust, efficient, and lightweight text editor designed specifically for programmers, offering a wealth of features that enhance productivity without slowing down the user experience. It is compatible with Linux, Windows, and MacOS, supports over 40 languages, and accommodates more than 50 programming languages natively. One of the main motivations behind creating Geany was the demand for a versatile, user-friendly, and cross-platform IDE/editor that combines flexibility with power. While various editors fulfill some of these criteria, many fail to adequately address others. Geany is distributed under the GPL v2 license, ensuring that users have the freedom to modify and improve the software, while also allowing the entire community to benefit from those enhancements. Its highly customizable components, such as color themes (known as Geany Themes) and the ability to add new file types, cater to diverse user preferences. Additionally, Geany is equipped with numerous settings that allow for extensive personalization, ensuring it meets the unique needs of its users, including support for popular programming languages like C, Java, PHP, HTML, and JavaScript. Ultimately, Geany appeals to developers looking for a reliable tool that combines simplicity with comprehensive functionality.

Neovim boasts a first-class API that is easily discoverable, versioned, and well-documented. Its use of MessagePack for structured communication allows for extensions to be created in any programming language. Remote plugins operate as co-processes, ensuring safety and asynchronous execution. Various platforms such as GUIs, IDEs, and web browsers can seamlessly integrate Neovim as their editing tool or scripting host. This consistency extends across all environments, utilizing a single build type and command. It also offers modern terminal capabilities, including cursor styling, focus events, and bracketed paste functionality. With a built-in terminal emulator and sensible defaults, Neovim maintains full compatibility with Vim's editing model and Vimscript v1. If you are transitioning from Vim, starting with :help nvim-from-vim is recommended. The current stable release is version 0.5 (RSS), and interested users can check the roadmap for updates and future objectives. Neovim aims to facilitate new applications while maintaining its commitment to Vim's established functionalities, all while featuring 30% less source code than Vim. Additionally, while Lua is integrated into Neovim, it also offers support for Vimscript through the most sophisticated Vimscript engine available, which includes an AST-producing parser for enhanced performance. This dual support allows users to leverage their existing scripts while exploring the capabilities of Lua.

Zed is an advanced code editor crafted for seamless collaboration between humans and AI, emphasizing high performance. Developed entirely in Rust to maximize the efficiency of multiple CPU cores and GPU resources, it allows for the integration of emerging LLMs into your coding workflow for tasks such as code generation, transformation, and analysis. The platform facilitates real-time communication with team members, enabling collaborative note-taking, screen sharing, and project management. With its multibuffer system, users can edit selected excerpts from the entire codebase on a single interface. It also supports inline code evaluation through Jupyter runtimes, allowing for joint notebook editing. Zed is compatible with numerous programming languages, thanks to Tree-sitter, WebAssembly, and the Language Server Protocol. Its quick native terminal is integrated with Zed's language-aware task runner and AI features, enhancing productivity. The editor offers first-class modal editing through Vim bindings, incorporating functionalities such as text objects and marks for efficient navigation. Built by a diverse global community of thousands of developers, Zed encourages users to enhance their experience with a wide array of extensions that expand language capabilities, provide various themes, and more. Furthermore, its user-friendly design aims to streamline development workflows, making it an ideal choice for programmers looking to elevate their coding efficiency.

Experience a versatile, cross-platform code editor that accommodates more than 60 programming languages across 9 different platforms. You can build or compile your projects seamlessly, and by simply double-clicking on an error message in the Build window, you can swiftly navigate to the relevant line of code. Each error and warning is clearly indicated with an icon located in the left margin for easy identification. Additionally, the overview bar next to the vertical scrollbar provides a visual representation of errors and warnings in relation to your current scroll position within the document. For a more efficient workflow, you can either drag the scrollbar slider to a marked location or click directly on the mark to bring it into view. SlickEdit also features an integrated debugging tool that serves as a user-friendly interface for a variety of debuggers. You can set breakpoints, step through code, inspect the stack, and examine variables and members, offering all the essential functionalities you would anticipate from a debugging tool. Furthermore, SlickEdit facilitates debugging for numerous languages, including GNU C/C++, Java, WinDbg, Clang C/C++ LLDB, Google Go, Python, Perl, Ruby, PHP, XCode, Scala, C# with Mono, Visual Basic with Mono, and Android JVM/NDK, making it a comprehensive solution for diverse development needs. This extensive support makes SlickEdit an invaluable tool for developers working in multiple environments.

Textastic for Mac serves as an ideal desktop counterpart to the widely used iOS code editor. Featuring compatibility with over 80 source code and markup languages, it seamlessly extends the robust syntax highlighting capabilities of its iOS version to the Mac platform. Users can easily integrate their own syntax definitions that are compatible with TextMate and Sublime Text. The Mac version is derived from the same code editor that powers the iOS application, ensuring a consistent experience. It utilizes native macOS APIs like Core Text, which enhances performance and speed. The app simplifies your workflow with features such as code completion, file navigation through a symbol list, and support for contemporary Mac functionalities like Auto Save and Versions. Additionally, with iCloud Drive integration, syncing files between macOS and iOS devices becomes a hassle-free process. This application not only supports a vast array of coding languages but also includes features such as iCloud auto-save and macOS Versions, making it a comprehensive tool for developers. Furthermore, it allows for the importation of syntax definitions, themes, and templates from TextMate, enhancing its customization options.

Kakoune is a remarkably efficient modal text editor that emphasizes real-time feedback and offers powerful, intuitive options for multi-selection. Drawing inspiration from Vim, it presents a unique perspective on modal editing by prioritizing a selection-based workflow, which enhances the natural fluidity of text manipulation. Unlike traditional editors where commands are executed on cursors, Kakoune empowers users by allowing commands to act on selections, thus facilitating precise and rapid editing and navigation. With features such as robust multi-caret editing, context-aware autocompletion, and extensive support for various programming languages, Kakoune is optimized for handling large files and intricate codebases with ease. Its design allows for scripting and extension using shell commands, ensuring seamless integration with UNIX tools and offering users a high degree of customization. Renowned for its remarkable responsiveness and adaptability, Kakoune is particularly well-suited for developers who favor a keyboard-driven interface and value immediate, real-time feedback throughout their editing tasks. This makes it an excellent choice for those looking to enhance their productivity in coding environments.

Typora offers a fluid experience for users, serving effectively as both a writing and reading tool. It eliminates the need for a preview window, mode switcher, or any markdown syntax symbols, thereby cutting out unnecessary distractions. Instead, it features a live preview option that allows you to focus solely on your content. The software also facilitates file management with an easily accessible file tree panel and an article list panel, enabling you to organize your files according to your preferences, including integration with sync services such as Dropbox or iCloud. You can effortlessly view the outline structure of your documents in the outline panel, making navigation throughout the document quick and intuitive, as you can jump to any section with just one click. Additionally, Typora allows you to export your work to PDF complete with bookmarks. You can further enhance your productivity by importing and exporting various other formats, such as docx, OpenOffice, LaTeX, MediaWiki, and Epub. To top it off, you can track your document’s length in terms of words, characters, lines, or estimated reading time, providing you with valuable insights into your writing. This comprehensive functionality makes Typora a powerful tool for anyone involved in writing or content creation.

Carry your work with you wherever you go, whether you're waiting for public transport or unwinding on a sunny beach. You can conveniently edit your files straight from the cloud, as DroidEdit is compatible with various platforms like Dropbox, Drive, Box, (S)FTP servers, and Git, with even more file providers on the way. It boasts syntax highlighting for nearly 200 programming languages, making it a versatile choice for developers. When an urgent call comes in requesting code modifications, there's no need to rush back to the office; simply grab your mobile device and make the necessary changes on the go. You can check out, edit, commit, and push updates directly from your smartphone or tablet, ensuring you stay productive no matter where you are. Everyone has their own preferences—some developers thrive with dark themes, while others favor bright white backgrounds. With a variety of themes available for syntax highlighting, you can easily find one that suits your style, or even design your own if you wish. Additionally, streamline your coding process by using Emmet to transform simple expressions into fully developed HTML code automatically. This flexibility allows you to code efficiently while enjoying the freedom of mobility, making it easier than ever to stay on top of your projects.

Helix Editor stands out as an advanced, contemporary text editor tailored for developers who desire a swift, customizable, and effective editing experience. Emphasizing productivity, Helix employs a modal editing approach reminiscent of Vim, enabling users to effortlessly navigate, select, and alter text through user-friendly keyboard shortcuts. Its extensive feature set encompasses syntax highlighting, multi-caret editing, and compatibility with programming languages such as Rust, Python, and JavaScript. Furthermore, Helix leverages the Tree-sitter parsing library to deliver precise syntax-aware editing, facilitating the management of intricate code structures. The editor's streamlined interface, combined with its strong emphasis on performance, makes Helix Editor an exceptional choice for programmers who value both speed and adaptability in their development processes. Overall, this editor fosters an efficient coding environment, empowering developers to focus on their projects with minimal distractions.

To be candid, Mac applications seem to be fading into obscurity. While there are valid motivations for developing cross-platform applications — primarily their versatility — it doesn't align with our core identity. Established as a Mac software developer in 1997, the team at Panic finds joy in creating products that embody the essence of Mac. Many years ago, we introduced Coda, a groundbreaking all-in-one web editor specifically for Mac users. However, as we began developing Nova, we reassessed the current landscape of the web and recognized the need for a new beginning. Hence, our journey commenced with a top-tier text editor that is not only brand new but also incredibly fast and adaptable, packed with all the essential features like intelligent autocomplete, multiple cursors, a Minimap, editor overscroll, and tag pairs and brackets, among many others. For those interested, Nova offers integrated support for a variety of languages including CoffeeScript, CSS, Diff, ERB, Haml, HTML, INI, JavaScript, JSON, JSX, Less, Lua, Markdown, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Sass, SCSS, Smarty, SQL, TSX, TypeScript, XML, and YAML. This extensive support ensures that developers have the tools they need to work efficiently and effectively across multiple programming languages.

CodeRunner is an efficient, lightweight programming text editor and integrated development environment (IDE) tailored for macOS. This versatile application was crafted to accommodate a diverse array of popular programming languages and execute them without delay. By default, it can run code in 25 different languages, but users can easily configure it to support additional languages through their respective terminal commands. With a robust offering of over 200 syntax modes, an array of advanced editing capabilities, and thoughtful design elements, CodeRunner is sure to become your preferred editor for all types of text files. Its code completion functionality stands out as one of the finest available in any IDE, featuring intelligent text matching that goes beyond mere single-word suggestions. The extra-fuzzy search algorithm allows users to swiftly locate the right completion among thousands, supplemented by useful documentation snippets and a smart ranking system for results. Instead of cluttering your code with print statements for debugging, take advantage of CodeRunner's comprehensive built-in debugging tools, which allow you to set breakpoints and step through your code seamlessly. With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, CodeRunner is ideal for both novice programmers and seasoned developers alike.

Spacemacs is a community-centric distribution of Emacs that revolutionizes the editing experience by integrating both Emacs and Vim's strengths. This innovative editor emphasizes ergonomic design, mnemonic organization, and consistency throughout its interface. Key bindings are thoughtfully categorized with mnemonic prefixes such as b for buffer, p for project, s for search, and h for help, making navigation intuitive. Users benefit from a unique real-time display that highlights available key bindings, enhancing usability. The platform also features a streamlined query system to effortlessly locate layers, packages, and more. With a standardized set of conventions, similar functionalities utilize the same key bindings across the board, promoting familiarity. Additionally, the community-driven configuration ensures that users have access to a curated selection of packages optimized by experienced users, while bugs are addressed promptly, fostering a reliable and efficient working environment. This makes Spacemacs not just an editor, but a vibrant community of users supporting one another in their coding journeys.

Buffer Editor is an innovative code and text editing tool designed for seamless software development, code viewing, or note-taking while on the move. Countless programmers rely on Buffer Editor for its swift, robust, and sophisticated coding capabilities on mobile platforms. It allows users to preview a variety of file types compatible with iOS, such as images, PDFs, videos, and documents. You can effortlessly toggle between your currently open files and even open several terminals in separate tabs. Additionally, you can preview content both on localhost and your own server, enhancing your workflow and productivity. With its user-friendly interface and extensive features, Buffer Editor truly stands out in the realm of mobile coding applications.

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.