If you’re still using the ancient Notepad application that comes with Windows or TextEdit for Mac, take 5 minutes and get yourself something that will make smile every time you have to edit a raw text file. On the Windows side, there is a pretty clear winner: Notepad++. Get it here at SourceForge. On the Mac side, I find TextWrangler 2 by BareBones software to work quite well.

The best part…they’re both free!

The following are some of their features that basically kick patooty on their counterparts (old Notepad and TextEdit) that come bundled with their respective OS’s:

• Code syntax coloring (and folding in Notepad++)
• Multi-documents open
• Multi-document view and multiple views of same document – Notepad++ only
• RegEx search/replace – Notepad ++ only
• Macro recording/playback – Notepad++
• Build your own plug-ins – TextWrangler

There’s more, but you get the point. On the Mac side, TextWrangler is the free, little brother to BBEdit, a more fully featured editor by Bare Bones, but with a price.

For my purposes, TextWrangler is fine. But I really love Notepad++. They are worth your time to try out. You’ll never go back to Notepad or TextEdit.

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