The struggle with searching the perfect text editor

Hello everyone.
For me, there has always been the struggle to find the perfect code editor. I've came along perfectly with the Windows 10 notepad, but I supose that for coding it won't be enough looking over long term. I have heard different opinions about both notepad two and notepad plus plus. And it has been annoying me that every second person which codes and uses one of the both recommends me something else, and it really confuses at most.
So, again the questions:

  • What of either these both or maybe even something else would you recommend to me?
  • Why do you recommend it?
  • What features does it has to offeer?

I'm looking forward to all your answers, and thank you in advance!

For coding I would recommend a full-fledged IDe, such as VSCode. While I am not an user of this particular program i have heard good things about it and especially its accessibility. As for the "Why" part it boils down to three things: Code completion, debugging, version control integration.

I would recommend Notepad++ if you want a small size one.

Why?

  • Supports code auto indentation.
  • Supports code autocompletion, function / word completion.
  • Use previous typed words in the current file, for example if you have the word "thisisavariable" in the file, but you don't want to type the full word again, so you can type like "thisis" and the list of words will be popped out.
  • Ability to change tab to space vs space to tab for indentations.
  • Ability to customize even indentation for each language or use the main default value which can also be customized.
  • For indentation like spaces, you don't even need to type spaces many times to be an indentation, just set the space character in indentation for the language, and press the tab key while writing code if you want to indent, and space will be inserted.
  • Ability to define your own custom language files, should it not provide you with enough languages.
  • Edit multiple files at once using tabs. Control + Tab to be specific.

This is similar to VSCode or whatever, even though it may not provide the full feature of VSCode.

Also, you need to install Notepad++ NVDA Add-on to use things like autocompletion. That Add-on also improves the accessibility of the app.

I've been using Notepad++ for years.

HTH!

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You don't need vs code or something like that, at least definitly not now. I've been trying it in my internship 2 days ago and I just couldn't get along with it, the interface, and also not the auto completion. I highly dupt you'll like it, knowing you and your personal preferences. np2 is great, and I'd honestly recommend it. It has nice features for indentation, but not to much bs noone needs. I've used np++ for a short time, but I only remember my opinion was rather meh, but it should also be fine to use.

Hi there
This has been absoulutely helpful and I would like to thank you for this one. I already installed notepad++ a while ago but probably will now set it as default editor for everything. I believe there is instructions somewhere in another topic.
Maybe this is not really the right topic to ask, but when we are about indentation, is there a possibility to convert my code into indented automatically?
@post4 has also been helpful, thank you.

Notepad2 is out of date isn't it? 2013 I believe

It's old, but I don't really care. It has all I need. If I find the time and need for npp I might try using it again, but for now I can get along with np2 just fine and have no time to switch lol.

<Insert obligatory VIM/GVIM/NeoVim rave/rant here>

Ah? And what should that tell us? I don't really understand it.

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