Notepad++ is a free, open-source text and source code editor for Windows. It is widely used by developers, programmers, and other professionals who need a powerful yet lightweight tool for editing plain text and source code.

Notepad++ is written in C++ and uses pure Win32 API and STL, based on the powerful editing component Scintilla, which ensures a higher execution speed and smaller program size. By optimizing as many routines as possible without losing user friendliness, Notepad++ is trying to reduce the world's carbon dioxide emissions. When using less CPU power, the PC can throttle down and reduce power consumption, resulting in a greener environment.

What is the difference between Notepad and Notepad++?

Notepad++ is an advanced version of Notepad, aimed at programmers, web designers, and IT professionals. It has basic IDE features but retains the familiarity of Notepad which is Windows' built-in text editor and very simple word processor.

What programming languages does Notepad++ support?

Notepad++ supports programming languages such as C, C++, Java, JavaScript, XML, Python, CSS, HTML, Ruby, Pascal, Visual Basic, and more.

Is Notepad++ better than Sublime Text?

Both applications are powerful text editors, but the main difference is that Notepad++ is open source and free. Sublime Text offers a trial version but it costs $99 per license. Another important difference is that Notepad++ is only available on Windows, while Sublime Text is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is worth mentioning that Sublime Text offers an evaluation version that you can use for free, but it will constantly ask you to purchase the license.

Features

Notepad++ is a free (as in "free speech" and also as in "free beer") source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.

This project is mature. However, there may be still some bugs and missing features that are being worked on. If you have any questions or suggestions about this project, please post them in the forums. Also, if you wish to make a feature request, you can post it there as well. But there's no guarantee that I'll implement your request.

You're encouraged to translate Notepad++ into your native tongue if there's not already a translation present in the Binary Translations page. And if you want, help translating Notepad++ official site into your native tongue would be greatly appreciated.

  • Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding
  • WYSIWYG
  • User Defined Syntax Highlighting
  • Auto-completion
  • Multi-Document
  • Multi-View
  • Regular Expression Search/Replace supported
  • Full Drag 'N' Drop supported
  • Dynamic position of Views
  • File Status Auto-detection
  • Zoom in and zoom out
  • Multi-Language environment supported
  • Bookmark
  • Brace and Indent guideline Highlighting
  • Macro recording and playback

What's New

  • Fix ShortcutMapper regression (from v8.7.6) of displaying wrong shortcut while editing. (Fix #16491)
  • Fix Find in files progress bar visual regression (from v8.8). (Fix #16504)
  • Fix search result cut off result content due to nul characters ('\0'). (Fix #6281, #15216, #16466)
  • Add Locale-based line sort feature. (Fix #13456, #927, #8481, #11261, #16406, #16409)
  • Enable selection history for undo & redo. (Fix #16488)
  • Fix plugins removal failure issue (fixed in WinGUp).(Fix #16364, #15673, #11819, #9148, WinGUp #82)
  • Fix tab settings for external lexers cannot be saved issue. (Fix #16460)
  • Add ErrorList syntax highlighting. (Fix #16437, #8078)
  • Fix disabled Paste command with no previous text-data in clipboard. (Fix #16456)
  • Fix wrong directory opened for opening files issue. (Fix #16465)
  • Improve Find dialog look & feel (more space).

Notepad++ 8.8 release notes

  • Update to Scintilla 5.5.6 & Lexilla 5.4.4. (Implement #16373)
  • Fix a hanging issue on regexp regression. (Implement #16371)
  • Fix vertical tab bar messed up regression. (Fix #16385)
  • Add option to apply different color to fluent toolbar icons. (Fix #16369, #15430)
  • Add "Show only pinned button" option to prevent from inacurate click. (Fix #15963)
  • Fix broken cloned file state after Notepad++ restart. (Fix #16412)
  • Fix inactive buffer reloading problem. (Fix #16344)
  • Dark mode enhancements: combobox, slider, treeview edit, inactive menu bar & toolbar chevron. (Fix #16349, #16379, #16418, #16445, #10103)
  • Reorganize GUI (add Toolbar & Tab Bar sections) of Preferences dialog. (Commit, Implement #16459)
  • Fix invalid dot-character(s) handling in filenames checking. (Fix #16328)
  • Fix crash when using custom toolbar icons. (Fix #16366)
  • Add class & method recognization ability for JavaScript function list. (Fix #13013)
  • Remove toolbarIcons.xml, use toolbarButtonsConf.xml for toolbar custom icons & hidding buttons. (Fix #16402)
  • Add GUI option in Preferences dialog instead of using zero length enableSelectFgColor.xml. (Fix #16391)
  • Fix "Keep selection when right-click outside of selection" not working issue. (Fix #16325)
  • Fix Find dialog status text too left visual glitch. (Fix #16359)
  • Force npcNoInputC0 value as "true" by default to avoid C0 code input. (Fix #16326, #15839, #15729)
  • Remove "-pluginMessage" argument unnecessary restriction. (Fix #16273)
  • Fix an easter egg not showing issue. (Fix #15170)