Text editor Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
A text editor is a piece of computer software for editing plain text. It is distinguished from a word processor in that it does not manage document formatting or other features commonly used in desktop publishing.
is the standard text editor for Microsoft Windows]]
Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code.
Some text editors are small and simple, while others offer a broad and complex range of functionality. For example, Unix and Unix-like operating systems have the vi editor (or a variant), but many also include the Emacs editor to edit text as well. Microsoft Windows systems come with the very simple Notepad, though many people (especially programmers) use a more complete program like TextPad. For the Apple Macintosh's Mac OS there is the native SimpleText, which was replaced or supplemented by WorldText, and also the HTML editor BBEdit. Windows and Mac OS ports of Emacs also exist.
Before text editors existed, computer text was punched into Hollerith cards, using specialized tywriter-like machines called keypunch machines. The text was carried as a physical box of thin cardboard cards, and read into a card-reader.
The first text editors did not provide a window or screen-oriented display. They were designed to be used on teletypes. So instead, they provided short commands to print sections of the file. Usually an "edit cursor", an imaginary insertion point, was moved through the file, and short segments of the file could be printed to see the changes. These "character-based text editors" were considered revolutionary improvements over keypunch machines, simply because it became impossible to drop a box of cards.
When computer terminals with video screens became inexpensive, screen-based text editors became common. One of the earliest is "VI", still a standard editor for UNIX and Linux operating systems. The ease of of these editors motivated many of the early purchases of video terminals.
Text editors geared for professional computer users place no limit on the size of the file being opened. In particular, they start quickly even when editing large files, and can edit files that are too large to fit the computer's main memory. Simpler text editors often just read files in an array in RAM. On larger files, this is slow, and very large files often do not fit.
The ability to read and write very large files is needed by many professional computer users. For example, system administrators may need to read long log files. Programmers may need to change large source code, or examine naturally large texts, such as an entire dictionary placed in a single file.
Some text editors include specialized computer languages to customize the editor. For example, EMACS can be customized by programming in Lisp. These usually permit the editor to simulate the keystroke combinations and features of other editors, so that users don't have to learn the native command combinations.
Many text editors for software developers include source code syntax highlighting and automatic completion to make a programming language easier to read and write. Programming editors often permit one to select the name of a subprogram or variable, and then jump to its definition and back. Often an auxiliary utility, like ctags is used to locate the definitions.
Some editors include special features and extra functions, for instance,
- Source code editors
- IDEss
- HTML editors
- Outliners
List of popular text editors
Freeware editors
See also: Editor wars
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