Text Editor For Mac Osx
How to Use TextEdit Plain Text Mode by Default in Mac OS X. By Jim Tanous on December 3, 2014 at 4:01 PM • @JimTanous. TextEdit should be your first stop for plain text editing in OS X. TextEdit is the default text editor in macOS, and it’s just as barebones as the default text editor in Windows, Notepad. Naturally, many Mac users sooner or later look for an alternative, and they often stumble upon Notepad++.
Amidst every hype, that Microsoft or Windows ever created, Macintosh hardware, Mac OS made its own place in the world of a desktop system. To make Mac OS more convenient and user-friendly, text editors prove their worth. Text editor plays various important roles from note making to programming. It does not only edit text as in document text but work as a code compiler which is where their true potential lies. More and exceeded numbers of plug-ins in a text editor can really increase productivity and speed and may even extend to debugging.
10 Best Text Editors for Mac OS
To make Mac OS quite simpler, we have come up with 10 BEST TEXT EDITORS FOR MAC OS.
1. TextMate
Textmate brings Apple approach Oss into the world of text editors. TextMate is a versatile plain text editor. It has innovative and unique features like:
- auto-pairing for brackets
- ability to search and replace in a project
- auto indent
- foldable code block
- support for Darcs, Perforce, SVK and Subversion
- Themable Syntax Highlight Colours
- Works as External Editor for (s)ftp programs.
It supports almost 80 programming languages and writes prose in structured format. It had won Apple Design Award for best Mac OS X Developer Tool in August 2006. You can directly download from the given link: https://macromates.com.
2. Textastic
Textastic is a simple and fast, text, code and mark up editor. It has brilliant features like:
- syntax highlighting more than 80 types of files
- open files in tabs and folder in sidebars
- always restore files and windows when reopening the app
Its improved version has come up with features like improved indentation, code completion and file navigation with the symbol list.
It supports most of the modern Mac features. In short, it is a desktop companion to the popular iOS code editor. You can download this app from the given link: https://www.textasticapp.com
3. Brackets
Brackets is a lightweight version 1.11 yet powerful modern mac text editor made by web developers. It is open source code editor which is helpful for web designer and front-end developer. It has easy control flow and easily inspecting variables.
The thing that sets brackets apart from other text editors is its elegant interface and unique extract features which basically allow grabbing font, gradients, colors, measurement etc, from a PSD file into a clean CSS ready for web usage. It also supports ECMA script.
You can download Brackets from the given link: brackets.io
4. UltraEdit
UltraEdit is the next popular text editor in a row of popular text editors. It has ample amount of features which makes it different from other text editors available. Some of the features are out of the box like:
- themes for Mac and Linux
- multi caret editing and multi selection
- capabilities robust search
- Integrated ftp, column mode and retina/UHD suppor
Its most amazing feature it can edit large files easily whereas other text editors get crashed. More importantly it is available on multiple platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux. You can download UltraEdit from the given link: https://www.ultraedit.com.
5. Atom Text Editor
Atom text editor is an open source editor full of themes customise approachable, yet hackable. User can search for and install new packages or start creating their own-all from within the editor.
Basic Text Editor For Mac
Some of its attractive features are:
- smart auto completion
- easy file browsing system
- Multiple panes to compare and edit across the files.
You can download Atom text editor from the given link: https://atom.io.
6. Coderunner 2
Coderunner 2 edit and run code in any programming language with a single click. It is really not that simple to write and test code. A running script, work with algorithms or simply experiment with new coding or scripting make its way more difficult. But code runner 2 eases them with its cool features.
It is the new version of code runner and named code runner version 2.3. It supports the touch bar in Macbook Pro. It also have improved state restoration. You can download CodeRunner 2 from the given link: https://coderunnerapp.com.
7. BBEdit
BBEdit is the leading professional HTML and text editor for Mac. It caters to the needs of web authors and software developers. It is full of high-performance features like
- intelligent interface
- greb patter matching
- search and replace across multiple files
- projects definition tools
- functions navigation and syntax colouring, and FTP and SFTP
- Open and save, apple script and of course a set of robust HTML markup tools.
These features make it more elegant and versatile to use. You can download BBEdit from the given link: https://www.barebones.com.
Sublime Text Editor For Mac Os X
8. Text Wrangler
Text wrangler is the lightweight version of BBEdit. It is not a hardcore programming tool and editor which is wildly preferred by most of the developer but it is more useful for people who need general editing. Thus, it has similar features like BBEdit.
It shares similarities with note pad so far as its functionalities are concerned. Text wrangler is a must try and must have editor with basic functions of editing and manipulating text. You can download TextWrangler from the given link: https://www.barebones.com.
9. Sublime text editor
Sublime text editor for MAC is extremely powerful with best and impressive features. It is simple, looks clean and easy to use. It is one of those rare text editors which support prose equally as codes and markup. It possesses many shortcuts through which this software can be operated and also it comes with fastest search engine.
What makes it more unique is its powerful plug-in name API, which is customised according to the needs of user. You can download Sublime text editor from the given link: https://www.sublimetext.com.
10. Coda 2
Coda 2 is a versatile editor which can be only used for website development. Unlike other text editor which can also be use for basic editing, it is a hardcore tool which can only be used by developer to develop their websites.
FTP clients, web preview of engine and excess to command line terminal are some of its basic features. Other features, which are no less interesting, are:
- Code folding
- Advanced UI
- Source code which is manageable with Git or SVN.
It is easy to use interface tool which is helpful for web editing. You can download CODA2 from the given link: https://panic.com.
There are many other text editors apart from the above text editors but for more ease these are some top 10 Free and Best Text Editor for Mac OS. These text editors are versatile and powerful to use for Mac OS. They can be use for web designing, programming and other general purposes. You can try these text editors and if you find many more text editors then let us know and comment below.
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TextEdit is the default text editor in macOS, and it’s just as barebones as the default text editor in Windows, Notepad. Naturally, many Mac users sooner or later look for an alternative, and they often stumble upon Notepad++.
What Is Notepad++?
Notepad++ is basically what would happen if you were to inject Notepad with steroids and forced it to work out. It supports several programming languages and features syntax highlighting, syntax folding, PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expression) search/replace, auto-completion, multi-document editing, WYSIWYG printing, zoom in and zoom out, bookmarks, macro recording and playback, and more.
Notepad++ is free and open source, first released in 2003 by Don Ho. It’s written in C++ and based on powerful editing component Scintilla. This free open source library supports many features to make code editing easier in addition to error indicators, line numbering in the margin, as well as line markers such as code breakpoints.
Because of its extensive features, support for 84 languages, and free price, Notepad++ was voted as the most used text editor worldwide with 34.7 percent of 26,086 respondents on Stack Overflow claiming to use it daily. It has also won a number of prestigious awards including the “Best Programming Text Editor for Windows” award from Lifehacker in 2011 and 2014.
Why Is Notepad++ Mac Not Available?
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to download Notepad++ for Mac. You might think that Notepad++ Mac isn’t available because it’s also not possible to download Notepad for Mac, but that’s not the real reason why.
Notepad++ relies extensively on Win32 API, the 32-bit application programming interface for modern versions of Windows. Win32 API consists of many components, including things like file systems, devices, processes, threads, and error handling. It’s also responsible for that instantly recognizable Windows look and feel that many long-term users of the operating system find so appealing. In short, without Win32 API, there’s no Notepad++. At least not without a major rewriting of the application.
If Notepad++ were a commercial project, there’s a chance that it would make a sense to develop and maintain a separate version for macOS (and Linux), but it’s free and open source, so the motivation is limited. Porting Notepad++ to another operating system would also break the compatibility with most plugins, essentially fragmenting the Notepad++ community.
How to Run Notepad++ On Mac?
Because of extensively Notepad++ relies on Win32 API, there are two possible ways how to run it on macOS: rewrite it so that it doesn’t rely on Win32 API anymore, or provide it the necessary API. We’ve already explained why the former is unlikely to happen anytime soon, but the latter is already possible using virtual machines and emulators.
Install Notepad++ on Mac Using Wine
Wine is a recursive backronym for Wine Is Not an Emulator. What is Wine then? A free and open-source compatibility layer whose goal is to emulate the Windows runtime environment by translating Windows system calls into POSIX-compliant system calls. It also recreates the directory structure of Windows systems and provides alternative implementations of Windows system libraries, services, and other components.
As you can see here, Notepad++ runs well in Wine, especially its earlier versions, which rate rated Gold and Platinum. Wine’s rating system is designed to assist users by giving a rating based on other users’ experience:
- Platinum: Works as well as (or better than) on Windows out of the box.
- Gold: Works as well as (or better than) on Windows with workarounds.
- Silver: Works excellently for normal use, but has some problems for which there are no workarounds.
- Bronze: Works, but has some problems for normal use.
- Garbage: Problems are severe enough that it cannot be used for the purpose it was designed for.
To install Wine on macOS, you need macOS 10.8 or higher, and you must set Gatekeeper to NOT block unsigned packages. If you meet these prerequisites, you can continue by following the steps below:
- Download the installer for Wine Stable from this page.
- Double-click on the installer.
- Create the fake C: drive where your Windows applications will be installed by entering “winecfg” into the terminal.
- Download Notepad++ from its official website.
- Place it in any directory you want.
- Open the terminal and navigate to the directory with Notepad++.
- Start the Notepad++ installation .exe file by typing “wine the-name-of-the-file.exe” into the terminal.
- To launch Notepad++ navigate to its folder in the virtual Windows directory and type “wine the-name-of-the-file.exe” into the terminal.
Install Notepad++ on Mac Using VMware
Os X Text Editor
The main advantage of running Notepad++ (or any other application) using Wine is that it runs side-by-side with native macOS applications. But due to how Wine works, minor bugs are to be expected. A bug here and there may be acceptable if you use Notepad++ only to occasionally edit a text file, but they can quickly make Notepad++ unusable for software developers or anyone who wants to use it extensively.
That’s where virtualization software solutions such as VMware Fusion come in. With it, you can set up a virtual Windows machine on your Mac computer and use the virtual machine to execute any Windows software you want. The virtual machine can even share the same clipboard with your Mac, allowing you to effortlessly copy and paste text and images to and from Notepad++ across operating systems.
To get started with VMware Fusion, we recommend you this detailed tutorial from VMware where you can learn everything you need to know about running Windows applications on Intel-based Mac computers. Of course, you’ll also need a copy of Windows.
3 Best Alternatives to Notepad++ for Mac Users
While it’s possible to run Notepad++ on macOS using Wine or VMware, neither approach is without its downsides, which is why many people look for alternatives to Notepad++ for Mac computers instead. One important reason is stability. There’s nothing worse than editing an important text file for an hour or two only to have your text editor suddenly crash, causing you to lose all your progress.
Unless you have a data recovery solution such as Disk Drill installed on your computer, your chances of recovering your lost data are slim. Disk Drill makes data recovery of over 200 file formats a matter of a single button press, and it comes with handy disk tools to help you keep your data organized and protected.
Your Companion for Deleted Files Recovery
To be as save as you can be, we recommend you have Disk Drill installed on your computer and consider one of the following alternatives to Notepad for Mac. Because the alternatives we’ve selected are native, mature Mac applications, their stability is guaranteed.
Brackets
Brackets is a modern text editor made with the needs of web developers in mind. It has a live preview feature that allows you to instantly see changes to CSS and HTML files in your web browser of choice, it can with your LESS and SCSS files, and it can show you all the CSS selectors with that ID in an inline window so you can work on your code side-by-side without any popups. Brackets is open source, free, and as sleek as a macOS application should be. Because of how lightweight Brackets is, it runs extremely well even on older Macs, making it our favorite Notepad++ Mac alternative for anyone who edits text on a regular basis.
Textmate
Textmate is a versatile text editor that brings Apple’s approach to operating systems into the world of text editors, as stated by its developers. It has many features, including the ability to search and replace text, auto-indent for common actions, clipboard history, dynamic outline for working with multiple files, file tabs when working with projects, foldable code blocks, and more. Despite its extensive features, Textmate remains highly accessible even to casual computers users who only edit text now and then. Using its powerful snippets, macros, and unique scoping system, Textmate can provide features that even a language specific IDE lacks.
Sublime Text
Sublime Text is a feature-packed text editor that runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux. It’s designed for code and prose alike. Sublime Text supports splits editing, customizable key bindings, menus, snippets, macros, completions, and it’s built from custom components, providing for unmatched responsiveness. Sublime Text is also free to download, but a license must be purchased for continued use. A single personal license costs $80, which is not an insignificant amount considering how many alternative text editors for Mac are available free of charge. But the fact that Sublime Text is among the most popular text editors across all operating systems is perhaps the best testament to its capabilities.