Take the 2-minute tour ×
Software Recommendations Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people seeking specific software recommendations. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I recently received a Mac (running OS X) and I was wondering if there was a Notepad++ equivalent for it. When I used a Windows computer I always liked using Notepad++ for my programming. Is there anything like Notepad++ but for Mac?

I am looking for a simple, free and fast text editor that is has good programming features such as highlighting errors, colour-coding keywords and variable names differently, et cetera. This might be picky so I won't mind if it's not an exact copy of what I request.

share|improve this question

closed as too broad by Franck Dernoncourt, winterblood, Braiam, ProgramFOX, iKlsR Apr 9 '14 at 10:18

There are either too many possible answers, or good answers would be too long for this format. Please add details to narrow the answer set or to isolate an issue that can be answered in a few paragraphs. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

4 Answers 4

up vote 11 down vote accepted

A good text editor you could use is Sublime Text. It's technically free (since the only non-benefit from using the trial version is you get occasionally nagged about buying the full product), and it can do all of the things you'd want from a text editor:

simple, free and fast text editor

Sublime Text can be customized as much as you want using the Plugin Manager available for it, so if you want to keep it as simple as possible you can. It's also kinda-sorta-technically free as mentioned before, and it's very fast.

highlighting errors

Using some excellent linting plugins you can install fairly easily using the Plugin Manager, you can have errors highlighted as you type, or whenever you save, among some other options.

colour-coding keywords and variables differently

(I'm assuming you mean syntax highlighting)

Sublime Text can do syntax highlighting fairly well. Here are some examples:

Sublime Text also has build systems and useful keyboard shortcuts and commands which can speed things up quite a lot. Most notably of these features is the command palette, a "center for commands" where you can execute most of the editor's functions by just searching.

Another text editor you could use is TextMate, Sublime Text's "spiritual predecessor." While I don't know the ins-and-outs of TextEdit, since I am a Windows user, it seems like a good Mac-only alternative if you don't want to use Sublime Text.

And if you really want to be able to dedicate yourself to a text editor, you can try Vim and/or Emacs. Be warned though, since these editors aren't very simple to use and require a long-term commitment to use.

share|improve this answer

Sublime Text

Sublime is probably the best text editor I've ever used. Let's see how that fits into your needs:

simple

Yes? Maybe? Can take some time to learn all keyboard shortcuts and be extremely productive with it, but totally worth it.

free

Yes.

fast

Yes. It's pretty damn fast.

programming features

Sublime has some of the best programming features. It has packages for every language highlighting, and almost anything you'd want to do.

Give it a go, you won't regret it.

share|improve this answer

Emacs is a pretty popular text editor for both Windows and Macs. It's been around for a long time and has a large following. It also allows you to add on features like Notepad++ does.

share|improve this answer

The best free text editor on the Mac is TextWrangler.

It doesn't highlight inline errors, but for basic HTML, programming, config files etc., it's fine.

share|improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_sa_3_0": ["                  <li><a href=\"//area51.stackexchange.com\" title=\"proposing new sites in the Stack Exchange network\">Area 51</a></li>\r\n                        <li><a href=\"//careers.stackoverflow.com\">Stack Overflow Careers</a></li>\r\n                    \r\n                </ol>\r\n            </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n                </div>\r\n            </div>\r\n\r\n            <div id=\"copyright\">\r\n                site design / logo &#169; 2015 stack exchange inc; user contributions licensed under <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license\">cc by-sa 3.0</a> \r\n                with <a href=\"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/06/attribution-required/\" rel=\"license\">attribution required</a>\r\n            </div>\r\n            <div id=\"svnrev\">\r\n                rev 2015.3.26.2411\r\n            </div>\r\n            \r\n        </div>\r\n    </div>\r\n    <noscript>\r\n        <div id=\"noscript-warning\">Software Recommendations Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled<img src=\"http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-c1rF4kxgLUzNc.gif\" alt=\"\" clas"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["ve this answer\n\nEmacs is a pretty popular text editor for both Windows and Macs. It's been around for a long time and has a large following. It also allows you to add on features like Notepad++ does.\n\nshare|improve this answer\n\nThe best free text editor on the Mac is TextWrangler.\n\nIt doesn't highlight inline errors, but for basic HTML, programming, config files etc., it's fine.\n\nshare|improve this answer\n\nNot the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question."]}