A software program that provides tools for writing computer programming code, as opposed to the word processor, which is designed to facilitate writing prose and displaying typography.

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17
votes
16answers
2k views

Is there a free, lightweight text editor that isn't text-only but also isn't a heavyweight IDE?

I'm not really satisfied with the text-editors available for Mac OS X. I tried TextWrangler, Smultron, Coda, SubEthaEdit, TextMate and others I do not remember. But none of the above satisfied my ...
16
votes
4answers
12k views

How can I open a text file with TextWrangler from the Terminal (command line)?

Often when I work in the Terminal (the command line) I need to edit some text files. I prefer to edit text files using TextWrangler. How can I open a text file with TextWrangler from the Terminal? I ...
13
votes
6answers
3k views

What's the best text editor for use with large files?

What are your recommendation for opening large text files on OS X? I found both BBEdit and Textmate to be struggling in this department.
13
votes
8answers
3k views

Which text editors take advantage of Lion's Versions feature?

I've been a fervent user of Textmate for many a year, and I hope to continue to be one. However, the versions feature of OSX seems like a great and easy to use idea. I'm mostly doing HTML, CSS and ...
12
votes
13answers
1k views

Can anyone recommend a programmers' editor?

I'm looking for a programmers' editor. I know Xcode and I use it for application programming but I'm looking for something that will: Syntax highlight PHP, SQL, Javascript (including jQuery) and CSS ...
10
votes
7answers
2k views

Editor or notes application with Markdown support?

Are there any editors or notes applications out there that support Markdown? I am often having to make notes or documents where markdown formatting would be ideal, and have gotten into the habit of ...
9
votes
4answers
3k views

LaTeX Editor for OS X

I am looking for an easy to use LaTeX text editor for OS X. It is meant to be used by a social science student, hence TextMate seems to difficult to use. Basically I am looking for a LaTeX editor ...
8
votes
4answers
12k views

How do I start TextEditor from the command line?

I work a lot at the command line in a Terminal and would like to start a text editor on a certain file. I'm from Linux Land and normally use kwrite or gedit from a bash shell. Trying to find the Mac ...
7
votes
7answers
2k views

What are some Textmate alternatives that have the completion key feature?

I am slowly beginning to fear the worst with Textmate and the impending release of Lion and how stable Textmate might be on it. So my question is, are there any Textmate alternatives out there that ...
6
votes
3answers
13k views

How do I open a .plist file?

What's the best application to open and edit a plist file ?
6
votes
3answers
5k views

BBEdit - The authenticated save for this file failed (application error code: 20004)

I'm trying to edit my hosts file with BBEdit 10. When I begin, it tells me to unlock the file with this message: Are you sure you want to unlock "hosts"? You aren't a member of the group ...
6
votes
2answers
672 views

Why don't my arrow keys work in vim under iTerm?

They work just fine if I use Terminal and start a vim session, but under iTerm I have to resort to using H-J-K-L to do left-up-down-right movement. In both Terminal and iTerm TERM=xterm-color. My ...
6
votes
2answers
824 views

MATLAB and Objective-C in Sublime Text 2

Is there a way to set Sublime Text 2 (running under OSX) so that it identify MATLAB (.m) files and Objective-C (.m) files automatically? Meaning that ST2 would be able to differentiate between each ...
5
votes
4answers
708 views

What are the advantages of Emacs for Mac OS X users?

Over the past year or so I've seen a movement towards switching to Emacs on Mac OS X, often away from TextMate. While I understand the motivation for switching away from TextMate (TM2 is more or less ...
5
votes
1answer
147 views

How to edit any text in chosen editor?

I'm looking for a small app that will let me move any selected text (ie in a text box or another app) into my chosen text editor (in this case Sublime Text 2), and when I save will move it back to ...
5
votes
2answers
297 views

Indenting html + javascript/css

Have you encountered an OS X text editor capable of indenting both the line var x = 2; and the lines <it>Item A</it> <it>Item B</it> in the following html? <html> ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views

Which text editor has better OSX support, TextMate, or Sublime Text 2

I've been using Sublime Text 2 for Windows and Linux because it's simply the best for those platforms. However, when useing OSX I have the option to use TextMake, which is where Sublime Text 2 seems ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views

What is the most advanced JavaScript editor for OS X?

I tried Espresso but it lacks so many important features like no auto-parentheses, no auto-aliging. What is the most advanced JS editor for OS X? (please not Emacs for me).
4
votes
3answers
677 views

Force Terminal to Use Gedit for any Text Editing - not vim

I'm learning to program. While following this mission, I typed git commit, which opened up vim. I don't know or want to know vim (no offense to vim lovers). I'd like to have: terminal open gedit ...
4
votes
1answer
144 views

Open as text option for every file, regardless of what OS X thinks of it [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How to permanently put TextEdit in the Open with… menu list? Being a programmer, I often work with text files. As you probably know, file extensions are more or ...
3
votes
2answers
367 views

Replacing all white spaces with commas in a 46MB text file

How long should replacing all white spaces with commas take in my 46MB text file using a simple text editor such as textmate on my Mac?
3
votes
4answers
7k views

Free .CSV text file editor for Mac OS X 10.7?

I am looking for a free editor to edit comma-delimited text files, or .csv format. I cannot use LibreOffice or OpenOffice.org because they do not work in 10.7 yet.
3
votes
1answer
1k views

Refining a Sublime Text 2 / Transmit workflow

I recently changed code editors from Coda to Sublime Text 2. All in all, I am finding that ST2 fits my web development workflow almost perfectly. My one friction point is when interacting with an ...
3
votes
1answer
381 views

Change tabstop in TextEdit.app

How does one change the tabstop in TextEdit.app for Snow Leopard? The current tabstop is 8 spaces. I would like to change this to 4 spaces. Is there any way to achieve this?
3
votes
1answer
760 views

Tabs to spaces in BBEdit

How can I configure BBEdit to insert 4 spaces (or at least spaces up to the next column which is a multiple of 4)? I've checked "Auto-expand tabs" in the preferences, but it doesn't seem to be doing ...
3
votes
1answer
444 views

Why does my mouse cursor stick as the default arrow instead of a text selector?

I use NetBeans, and when I activate other applications or windows then return to NetBeans, the cursor no longer changes to the text selection cursor, but instead it remains as the default mouse icon. ...
2
votes
3answers
650 views

How does Mountain Lion set the default text editor for the “open -t” terminal command?

OSX seem to offer open -t command line shortcut to open arbitrary files in the system default text editor. Where is this default text editor set? Can I change it from the command line (if possible) ...
2
votes
2answers
116 views

Go to beginning of text field in Mac.

What's the keyboard combination to use to go to the very beginning of a text field? Tried Fn+Up and it scrolls the document up but doesn't move the cursor.
2
votes
4answers
200 views

How to 'scroll down' when there's nothing more to show? (cause I like the blank space)

When I'm working in a text document, I like to start typing at the top of the window or in the middle. I hate when the carat/cursor gets all the way to the bottom and there's no blank space left ...
2
votes
2answers
13k views

How can I edit a .docx file in Dropbox on my iPad?

I have all my papers in a .docx on Dropbox and I'd like to be able to edit them on my iPad. How do I do this? All the free editors I've tried only support reading .docx files and they don't have ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views

Where does OS X store unsaved TextEdit documents?

Where does Mac OS X store TextEdit's unsaved documents? I want to programmatically: increase/decrease that size flush the cache provide configuration option to control the frequency of auto ...
2
votes
2answers
131 views

Is there a notepad that lets me change the background image?

I want to put this blackboard as the background of my notepad, so when I type, it'll look like I'm writing on a blackboard. Do you know a simple text editor that will let me use it as a background ...
2
votes
3answers
1k views

Where to put the .vimrc file for sudo in OS X Lion?

I always put a .vimrc in my home folder for turning :syntax on. But in OS X Lion it seems that sudo vi foo.txt ignore or can't find this vim configuration anymore. Has anyone experiences the same ...
2
votes
1answer
183 views

How do I get BBEdit to display the error browser programmatically?

One of the nice features of BBEdit is that it can show a list of errors (e.g. syntax errors in a Ruby program), and clicking on the error will display the line in the source code file. How can I ...
2
votes
3answers
123 views

bind application to file of particular names(rather than suffix)

I want to open all makefiles with TextWrangler. But since makefiles have no suffix so binding a type of file to TextWrangler does not work. How can I tell Mac to open any file named Makefile with ...
2
votes
1answer
186 views

Opening a new file in TextMate opens the last opened file as well

Here is a small annoyance that I have with TextMate. When I want to open a new file in TextMate when it's not running it also opens the last opened file. Now for some cases that's just nice of him to ...
2
votes
3answers
2k views

How do I setup Python3.3 and Sublime Text 2 correctly on OS X 10.8.2?

I am trying to setup Sublime Text 2 so that the build command correctly runs Python3 / Python3.3 scripts. I have installed Python 3.3 via the installer obtained from python.org and installed Sublime ...
2
votes
1answer
438 views

How to edit a text file on an iDisk using the iPhone?

Are there any apps which allow me to edit text files on an iDisk? I don't need anything fancier than a notepad with the ability to open/save iDisk files. I understand that Notes.app is basically the ...
1
vote
8answers
2k views

Looking for the ultimate IDE for Mac

I am a little disenchanted with development on the Mac right now. I need a single IDE that can handle all of my development needs. I did notice there are other questions on this topic already, but ...
1
vote
8answers
230 views

What's your favorite multi - editor on OSX? [closed]

I was wondering if you could post your favorite code editor on OSX. I'm looking for something lightweight (no netbeans or eclipse) for fast editing multi languages. tag highlighting and code ...
1
vote
2answers
112 views

What are the control keys available when working in a text field?

I know that ctrl-e will move to me to the end of a line, and ctrl-a to the start. I also know that ctrl-n will move down a line. What other ctrl-key combinations are there? Is it possible to move ...
1
vote
2answers
71 views

Selecting a whole line of text, including the newline

Kind of a tricky one to describe. Here goes though. Open up your favourite text editor on OSX (well, Textedit, Coda 2, a Chrome textarea at least). Type a long line of text, followed by a short line. ...
1
vote
3answers
468 views

Is there a Mac text editor that has live display of unique word count?

That is, it shows, while you type, the count of unique words. Not a count of all words. If the document had the words: The cat is in the hat which is in Toledo. It would show a count of 7. I ...
1
vote
1answer
464 views

Why does BBEdit look bad with retina display?

I downloaded the free trial of BBEdit editor and I tried it on a new MacBook Pro with retina display. Surprisingly the text looks pretty bad, like if it is not focused. I doubt this is normal. Is it a ...
1
vote
1answer
411 views

Removing gray part of BBEdit/TextWrangler

How can I remove the gray part in BBEdit/TextWrangler. I want it to be white as the other part. Screenshot (see part marked with red square):
1
vote
1answer
35 views

Text editing: switch to Override mode

In insert mode, the text in front of the cursor is pushed forward when new text is inserted. For example, if the cursor is at position ^ and the word word3 is typed: word1 word2 ^ The result ...
1
vote
1answer
2k views

Change highlight colour in Sublime Text 2

How can I change the default highlight colour in Sublime Text 2? I know I have to find a highlight key in one of the theme files but I don't know where these theme files are kept. Are they in the ...
1
vote
2answers
261 views

Free programming editor w/ syntax highlighting for iBook G4 running Mac OS X 10.4.11 (PowerPC)

I am looking for a free programming editor for my iBook G4. I was going to to get the lightswitch trial until I looked at the sys requirements (needs Intel CPU). Can someone please point me to a ...
1
vote
1answer
115 views

How to change 2 properties in Xcode 4?

I would like to do 2 things in the xCode: enabling spelling correction in the comments. unrolling the lines of code/comment, I mean like when I have a long line of code xCode won't break it to 3-4 ...
1
vote
1answer
177 views

Getting Sublime text to use the latest version of Ruby?

I have multiple versions of Ruby installed on my machine. By using RVM, I am able to use Ruby 1.9.2 on the terminal. But whenever, I use Sublime Text, the text editor of my choice, it defaults to ...

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