Notepad++

Notepad++ development began in September 2003 by Don Ho, a former Paris Diderot University computer science student.{{cite web |last1=HO |first1=Don |title=CV |url=https://donho.github.io/ |website=donho.github.io}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/06/behind-the-app-the-story-of-notepad/|title=Behind The App: The Story Of Notepad++|first=Andy|last=Orin|date=18 June 2015|publisher=Lifehacker Australia}} Ho first used JEXT (a Java-based text editor){{cite web |title=Jext - Free Software (Logiciel Libre) Source Code Editor |url=http://www.jext.org/ |website=jext.org |access-date=24 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080901083056/http://www.jext.org/ |archive-date=1 September 2008 |url-status=usurped |date=1 September 2008}}{{cite web |last1=Guy |first1=Romain |title=jext |url=https://github.com/romainguy/jext |website=romainguy |publisher=github |access-date=24 July 2024 |date=8 February 2024}} at his company but, dissatisfied with its poor performance, he began to develop a text editor written in C++ with Scintilla. He developed it in his spare time since the idea was rejected by his company. Notepad++ was built as a Microsoft Windows application; the author considered, but rejected, the idea of using wxWidgets to port it to the Mac OS X and Unix platforms.

Notepad++ was first released on SourceForge on 25 November 2003, as a Windows-only application.{{cite news |last1=Long |first1=Maddison |date=30 May 2017 |title=An Interview With Notepad++ Creator Don Ho |url=https://theinitialcommit.com/2017/05/30/don-ho/ |website=_theInitialCommit |access-date=24 July 2024 |language=en}} It is based on the Scintilla editor component, and is written in C++ with only Windows API (Win32) application programming interface (API) calls using only the Standard Template Library (STL) to increase performance and reduce program size.{{cite web|url=http://news.filehippo.com/2015/06/notepad-is-changing-code-and-changing-the-world/|title=Notepad++ Is Changing Code And Changing The World|first=Arianna|last=Gael|date=24 June 2015|publisher=Filehippo}}

In January 2010 the US government obliged US-based open source project hosts to deny access from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria to comply with U.S. law.{{cite web|title=Clarifying SourceForge.net's denial of site access for certain persons in accordance with US law|url=https://sourceforge.net/blog/clarifying-sourceforgenets-denial-of-site-access-for-certain-persons-in-accordance-with-us-law/|website=SourceForge.net|publisher=Slashdot Media|date=25 January 2010}} As a response to what the developer felt was a violation of the free and open-source software (FOSS) philosophy, in June 2010 Notepad++ moved out of US territorial jurisdiction by releasing a version on TuxFamily, in France. Some community services of Notepad++ (such as the forums and bug tracker) remained on SourceForge until 2015 when Notepad++ left SourceForge completely.{{cite web|url=http://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/notepad-new-site-notepad-plus-plus.org.html|title=Notepad++ hosted on new website|publisher=Notepad++|date=6 June 2010|access-date=11 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419073303/http://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/notepad-new-site-notepad-plus-plus.org.html|archive-date=19 April 2014|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/notepad-5.7-release-(outside-the-usa).html|title=Notepad++ 5.7 released on French servers|publisher=Notepad++|date=5 July 2010|access-date=11 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125053654/http://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/notepad-5.7-release-(outside-the-usa).html|archive-date=25 January 2012|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/notepad-plus-plus-leaves-sf.html|title=Notepad++ leaves SourceForge|website=notepad-plus-plus.org|access-date=2 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701060335/https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/notepad-plus-plus-leaves-sf.html|archive-date=1 July 2016|url-status=dead}}

In 2011 Lifehacker described Notepad++ as "The Best Programming Text Editor for Windows", stating that "if you prefer a simple, lightweight, and extensible programming plain-text editor, our first choice is the free, open-source Notepad++".{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5818674/the-best-programming-text-editor-for-windows|title=The Best Programming Text Editor for Windows|first=Adam|last=Pash|date=6 July 2011|publisher=Lifehacker}} Lifehacker criticized its user interface, stating that "It is, in fact, fairly ugly. Luckily you can do a lot to customize its looks, and what it lacks in polish, it makes up for in functionality".

In 2014 Lifehacker readers voted Notepad++ as the "Most Popular Text Editor", with 40% of the 16,294 respondents specifying it as their most-loved editor.{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/five-best-text-editors-1564907215/1567287033|title=Most Popular Text Editor: Notepad++|publisher=Lifehacker|date=24 April 2014|first=Alan|last=Henry}} The Lifehacker team summarized the program as being "fast, flexible, feature-packed, and completely free".

In 2015 Stack Overflow conducted a worldwide Developer Survey, and Notepad++ was voted as the most used text editor worldwide with 34.7% of the 26,086 respondents claiming to use it daily.{{cite web|url=https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2015#tech-editor |title=Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2015}} Stack Overflow noted that "The more things change, the more likely it is those things are written in JavaScript with NotePad++ on a Windows machine". The 2016 survey had Notepad++ at 35.6%.{{cite web|url=https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2016#technology-development-environments |title=Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2016 Results |date=18 March 2016 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318113033/http://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016#technology-development-environments |archive-date=18 March 2016}}

In 2015, in response to the staff hijacking of projects hosted on SourceForge, Notepad++ left SourceForge completely with the forums being moved to NodeBB and the bug tracker to GitHub.{{Cite web|url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/new-notepad-plus-plus-community.html|title=Notepad++ Community|website=notepad-plus-plus.org|access-date=2 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701055852/https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/new-notepad-plus-plus-community.html|archive-date=1 July 2016|url-status=dead}} In 2019, the website, notepad-plus-plus.org, moved to Hostinger.{{cite web |last1=C |first1=Damien |title=Notepad++: Why the World’s Best Software Will Always Be Free |url=https://www.hostinger.com/blog/notepad |website=Hostinger Blog |access-date=24 July 2024 |date=17 November 2022}}

Notepad++ is a source code editor. It features syntax highlighting, code folding and limited autocompletion for programming, scripting, and markup languages, but not intelligent code completion or syntax checking. As such, it may properly highlight code written in a supported scheme, but whether the syntax is internally sound or compilable, cannot be verified.{{cite web |url= http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php?title=User_Defined_Language_Files |title=User Defined Language Files |work=notepad-plus-plus.org |access-date=10 November 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161223212433/http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php?title=User_Defined_Language_Files |archive-date=23 December 2016 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |last=DeCarlo |first=Matthew |title=Download of the Week: Notepad++ |website=TechSpot |date=26 May 2009 |url= http://www.techspot.com/news/34846-Download-of-the-Week-Notepad.html |access-date=1 October 2009}}{{cite web |url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/features/ |title=Notepad++ Features |publisher=notepad-plus-plus.org |access-date=10 November 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130624005854/http://notepad-plus-plus.org/features/ |archive-date=24 June 2013 |url-status=dead}} As of version 7.6.3, Notepad++ can highlight the elements of 78 syntaxes:

{{div col|colwidth=10em}}

• ActionScript
• Ada
• ASN.1
• ASP
• Assembly
• AutoIt
• AviSynth scripts
• BaanC
• batch files
• Blitz Basic
• C
• C#
• C++
• Caml
• CMake
• Cobol
• CoffeeScript
• Csound
• CSS
• D
• Diff
• Erlang
• escript
• Forth
• Fortran
• FreeBASIC
• Gui4Cli
• Haskell
• HTML
• INI files
• Intel HEX
• Inno Setup scripts
• Java
• JavaScript
• JSON
• JSP
• KiXtart
• LaTeX
• Lisp
• Lua
• Makefile
• MATLAB
• MMIX
• Nim
• nnCron
• NSIS scripts
• Objective-C
• OScript
• Pascal
• Perl
• PHP
• PostScript
• PowerShell (Broken)
• PureBasic
• Python
• R
• Rebol
• Registry script (.reg)
• Resource file
• Ruby
• Rust
• Scheme
• Shell script
• Smalltalk
• SPICE
• SQL
• Swift
• S-Record
• Tcl
• Tektronix HEX
• TeX
• txt2tags
• TypeScript
• Visual Basic
• Visual Prolog
• VHDL
• Verilog
• XML
• YAML

{{div col end}}

The language list also displays two special-case items for ordinary plain text: "Normal text" (default) or "MS-DOS Style", which tries to emulate DOS-era text editors.

Notepad++ has features to consume and create cross-platform plain text files. It recognizes three newline representations ({{mono|CR}}, {{mono|CR+LF}}, and {{mono|LF}}) and can convert between them on the fly. In addition, it supports reinterpreting plain text files in various character encodings and can convert them to ASCII, UTF-8 or UCS-2. As such, it can fix plain text that seem gibberish only because their character encoding is not properly detected.

Notepad++ also has features that improve plain text editing experience in general, such as:

• Autosave
• Finding and replacing strings of text with regular expressions
• Searching text strings within opened tabs
• Searching text strings in a directory
• Guided indentation
• Line bookmarking
• Macros
• Simultaneous editing{{cite web|url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/features/multi-editing.html|title=Notepad++ Multi-editing|access-date=17 June 2016|archive-date=9 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809222901/https://notepad-plus-plus.org/features/multi-editing.html|url-status=dead}}
• Split screen editing and synchronized scrolling
• Line operations, including sorting, case conversion (Uppercase, lowercase, camel case, sentence case), and removal of redundant whitespace
• Tabbed document interface{{cite news |last=Fox |first=Geoff |title=Notepad++ Does It Again Again |work=AppScout |publisher=Ziff Davis Media |date=7 July 2008 |url=http://www.appscout.com/2008/07/notepad_does_it_again_again.php |access-date=1 October 2009 |archive-date=6 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906040510/http://www.appscout.com/2008/07/notepad_does_it_again_again.php |url-status=dead}}

Notepad++ has support for macros and plugins,{{cite news

|last1=Smith

|first1=Tim

|date=21 September 2009

|url=http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/downloads/2196837/notepad

|title=Notepad++ 5.5

|access-date=1 October 2009

|publisher=Computeractive

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719155339/http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/downloads/2196837/notepad

|archive-date=19 July 2009

}} and has been remarked for its robust plugin architecture which enabled various new features to be integrated into the program.{{cite news |url=http://www.itworld.com/article/2833295/open-source-tools/tools-we-love--notepad--.html |title=Tools we love: Notepad++ |first=Matthew |last=Mombrea |publisher=ITWorld Magazine |date=15 November 2013 |access-date=18 February 2016 |archive-date=7 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107233407/https://www.itworld.com/article/2833295/open-source-tools/tools-we-love--notepad--.html |url-status=dead}} Currently, over 140 compatible plugins are developed for Notepad++, 10 of which are included by default in the program.{{cite web |url=http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/download.php |title=Notepad++ |publisher=sourceforge.net}} The first plugin to be included in the program was "TextFX", which includes W3C validation for HTML and CSS, text sorting, character case alteration and quote handling.{{cite web |title=TextFX's_Future |url=http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php/TextFX's_Future |work=SourceForge |access-date=8 March 2022 |archive-date=27 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127001612/http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php/TextFX%27s_Future |url-status=dead}}

Notepad++ supports internationalization through XML files in an application-specific format containing all internationalized strings (dialog captions, menu titles and items, etc.) in a certain language; this file can be reloaded from the application settings. Translations to new languages can thus be written by simply editing an existing file.

Notepad++ is notable for being vocal in politics, particularly in human rights and opposition to war.

In March 2008, the "Boycott Beijing 2008" banner was placed on Notepad++'s SourceForge.net homepage.{{cite web|url=http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm |title=About Notepad++ |access-date=20 October 2011 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326203742/http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm |archive-date=26 March 2008}} A few months later most users in China were unable to reach the SourceForge.net website from 26 June to 24 July 2008. This led to the widespread belief that China had banned SourceForge.net in retaliation for the Boycott banner.[http://www.moon-blog.com/2008/06/sourceforge-blocked-in-china.html SourceForge Blocked In China]. Moonlight Blog. 26 June 2008.[http://www.moon-blog.com/2008/07/sourceforge-unblocked-in-china.html SourceForge Unblocked in China]. Moonlight Blog. 24 July 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=500647|title=Sourceforge.net was blocked in China|work=GameDev.net}}

In January 2015, the Notepad++ website was hacked by activists from the Fallaga Team who objected to an Easter egg endorsing Je suis Charlie.{{cite news |last=Kovacs |first=Eduard |date=15 January 2015 |title=Notepad++ Site Hacked in Response to "Je suis Charlie" Edition |url=http://www.securityweek.com/notepad-site-hacked-response-%E2%80%9Cje-suis-charlie%E2%80%9D-edition |newspaper=SecurityWeek |access-date=24 March 2017 |archive-date=21 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121063445/http://www.securityweek.com/notepad-site-hacked-response-%E2%80%9Cje-suis-charlie%E2%80%9D-edition |url-status=dead}} The Fallaga Team has been linked to ISIL and is also believed to be responsible for the 2017 hacking of websites of the British National Health Service.{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/isis-islamist-hackers-nhs-websites-cyber-attack-syrian-civil-war-images-islamic-state-a7567236.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/isis-islamist-hackers-nhs-websites-cyber-attack-syrian-civil-war-images-islamic-state-a7567236.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Isis-linked hackers attack NHS websites to show gruesome Syrian civil war images |first=Kim |last=Sengupta |date=7 February 2017 |work=The Independent |location=London |access-date=24 July 2017}}

In October 2019, Notepad++ released a version codenamed "Free Uyghur" (v7.8.1). In the release notice, the author expressed concern that hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs have been "subjected to political indoctrination, and sometimes even torture" in the Xinjiang re-education camp. He called for "additional pressure on the Chinese government to stop their oppressive actions and crimes concerning the Uyghur people".{{cite web |last1=Ho |first1=Don |title=News - Notepad++ v7.8.1 : Free Uyghur |url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v781-free-uyghur-edition/ |website=Notepad++ |access-date=13 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030062121/https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v781-free-uyghur-edition/ |archive-date=30 October 2019 |url-status=dead}} The software's dedicated site came under a distributed-denial-of-service attack and its GitHub issue page was bombarded with nationalistic rhetoric, though it later recovered after being moved behind Cloudflare's anti-DDoS service.{{cite news |url=https://twitter.com/Notepad_plus/status/1189155537977532416 |title=Notepad++ on Twitter |date=29 October 2019 |work=Twitter |access-date=31 October 2019}}{{cite news |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/chinese-users-attack-notepad-app-after-free-uyghur-release/ |title=Chinese users attack Notepad++ app after 'Free Uyghur' release |first=Catalin |last=Cimpanu |date=30 October 2019 |work=ZDNet |access-date=31 October 2019}}

In July 2020, Notepad++ released a version codenamed "Stand with Hong Kong" (v7.8.9). In the release notice, the author expressed his concern about the Chinese government implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong.{{Cite web|title=Notepad++ v7.8.9 : Stand with Hong Kong|url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v789-stand-with-hong-kong/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717173254/https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v789-stand-with-hong-kong/|archive-date=2020-07-17|date=2020-07-16|language=en|url-status=live |access-date=2020-07-18}} In retaliation, mainland Chinese browsers developed by Tencent (QQ Browser and WeChat's built-in browser), Alibaba (UC Browser), 360 and Sogou started blocking the official site's Download page, but not other pages.{{Cite news |last1=Liao |first1=Rita |date=17 August 2020 |title=Text editor Notepad++ banned in China after 'Stand With Hong Kong' update |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/17/notepad-plus-plus-blocked-in-china/ |access-date=2020-08-17 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

In early and mid-February 2022, Notepad++ released a version codenamed "Boycott Beijing 2022" (v8.3) and (v8.3.1). In the release notice, the author expressed his concern about human rights in China, especially for Uyghurs and Hongkongers. He suggest his audience "not watch or pay attention to the games".{{Cite web|title=Notepad++ 8.3 - Boycott Beijing 2022

|url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v83-boycott-beijing-2022/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Notepad++ Official website|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204000912/https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v83-boycott-beijing-2022/|archive-date=2022-02-04|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Notepad++ 8.3.1 - Boycott Beijing 2022|url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v831-boycott-beijing-2022/|access-date=2022-02-16|website=Notepad++ Official website|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216041002/https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v831-boycott-beijing-2022/|archive-date=2022-02-16|url-status=live}}

In late February 2022, Notepad++ released a version codenamed "Declare variables, not war" (v8.3.2). In the release notice, the author condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and called for support for Ukraine.{{Cite web|title=Notepad++ 8.3.2 - Declare variables, not war|url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v832-declare-variables-not-war/|access-date=2022-02-27|website=Notepad++ Official website|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227162251/https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v832-declare-variables-not-war/|archive-date=27 February 2022|url-status=live}} In March 2022, Notepad++ released a version codenamed "Make Apps, not war" (v8.3.3). The author continued to express his views on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.{{Cite web|title=Notepad++ 8.3.3 - Make Apps, not war|url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v833-make-apps-not-war/|access-date=2022-03-15|website=Notepad++ Official website|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315012226/https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v833-make-apps-not-war/|archive-date=15 March 2022|url-status=live}}

In summer of 2024, Notepad++ released updates supporting Taiwan, including "Support Taiwan's Sovereignty" (v8.6.8),{{Cite web |title=Notepad++ v8.6.8: Support Taiwan's Sovereignty {{!}} Notepad++ |url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/v8.6.8/ |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=notepad-plus-plus.org}} "Support Taiwan's Independence" (v8.6.9),{{Cite web |title=Notepad++ v8.6.9: Support Taiwan's Independence {{!}} Notepad++ |url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/v8.6.9/ |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=notepad-plus-plus.org}} and "Support Taiwan's return to the UN" (v8.7).{{Cite web |title=Notepad++ v8.7: Support Taiwan's return to the UN {{!}} Notepad++ |url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/v8.7/ |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=notepad-plus-plus.org}}

In November 2024, Notepad++ showed support for Ukraine again, with a release titled "in a world of Elon, be a Zelensky" (v8.7.2),{{Cite web |title=Notepad++ 8.7.2: in a world of Elon, be a Zelensky {{!}} Notepad++ |url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/v8.7.2/ |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=notepad-plus-plus.org}} and another criticism of Elon Musk with "leaving X for Bluesky" (8.7.3).{{Cite web |title=Notepad++ 8.7.3: leaving X for Bluesky {{!}} Notepad++ |url=https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/v8.7.3/ |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=notepad-plus-plus.org}}

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