GUI Text Editors
Introduction
In the Linux 101 users are shown how to edit text files in the Terminal. However, it is often more convinient for many users to do so in a GUI environment.
This sections gives some recommendations for several GUI text editors.
Recommended Text Editors
Text editors come in all shapes and sizes, and thus there is no definitive "best" text editor. However, here is a list of recommendations:
Notepad++
Platform(s): MS Windows
Website: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
For editing files on Windows, users should never use the built-in Microsoft editor, Notepad. Instead download and use Notepad++ (the author of this page uses this editor on Windows). It supports all the advanced features expected from a modern text editor, including syntax highlighting for most programming languages and line-ending conversion. This editor is also free and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
Atom
Platform(s): Mostly all of them
Website: https://atom.io/
For keeping your text editing experience constant across platforms, use Atom. Like Notepad++, it is also open source and contains all the features you would expect from a text-editor. Customizability is also a big selling point for this editor and there are many additional packages available that can extend the functionality of the editor.
Kate
Platform(s): Linux and Windows
Website: https://apps.kde.org/kate/
Kate is the text editor that is part of the KDE desktop environment. As such it is installed on all distributions that uses KDE. It is more feature rich than its peers and offers Desktop integration not provided with other general editors. Thus, it is a good choice if you want Desktop integration and minimal fuss to get started (as provided many Desktop environment default editors) but also more advanced features found in stand-alone editors (as showcased above).
Xed / Gedit / Distribution Defaults
Platform(s): Linux
Website: NA
Unlike with MS Notepad, a good text editing experience can be achieved with any of the default text editors that come with Linux distributions. The text editor used is often determined more by the Desktop environment than the distribution itself.
Because we recommend Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition to new users, Xed can be used as an example here. It is competent, but lacks the features of standalone editors and Kate.
Vim (gvim)
Platform(s): Mostly all of them
Website: https://www.vim.org/
For those who fell in love with vi in the terminal, but want to not open a Terminal window to use it, you can use gvim. This is an advanced editor in every sense of the word.
External Guides and Resources
- No external guides are available.
- If you know of other text editors that are great to use, please help us to share your recommendation by contacting the HPC staff at hpc@ufs.ac.za