Notepad++ questions

[OM2]

My favourite editor: Notepad++

 

But there's 2 things about it that wind me up and I can't figure out to solve (+ I've tried searching for solutions, but can't find an answer):

 

1. CTRL + tab, takes you to the next tab

Brilliant. Except when you have 10 tabs open

What is the order it goes to when you hit CTRL + tab?

For me the most logical thing would be to go to the tab on its right hand side

Unfortunately, this isn't the case and it has some other weird order

 

This is soooooooo frustrating!

Even when I have only 4 or 5 files open, navigating tabs is a pain

 

Where am I going wrong?

I've checked the options and can't find a setting that replaces the default CTRL + tab order function

 

2. Replacing multilines - I'm sure it's impossible!

I often have to open 50 files and replace all occurrences of multi line text with multi line text

I just can't do this!!

I have to resort to using Dreamweaver! And even that has failed me once or twice and I had to hunt down an application that would allow me to do the multiline text replacement! (I ended up using Sepy - but I like Notepad++ because it's lightweight)

 

3. Actually, I'll throw in another one: how do I search for something that has a $ sign in?

Like maybe search for $content? I think the character must have sort of meaning as when I search for text with a $ in, the results don't show

(Same problem with grep actually)

 

4. Actually... something else as well... is there a program like Grep that I can use that replaces all specific text occurences with what I choose? I would normally open up 100 files in Notepad++ and do this - but it would be great if I could just use something like Grep to do this - it would be lightning fast

 

Thanks!

 

 

OM

 

[DavidAM]

1) It took me a long time to get used to the CTRL-TAB functionality. What I have learned is that it goes to the tab that was active before the one you are in. It has actually become useful now that I understand what it is doing. Even with 5 or 6 files open, if I'm editing File1 and CTRL-TAB to File2, then copy some text, CTRL-TAB takes me back to File1, paste it, CTRL-TAB back to File2, copy, CTRL-TAB to File1, paste, etc, etc. It appears that if you hold the CTRL key and keep pressing TAB, it will cycle through all of the files in the order of most recently active. The ones you pass through do not count as becoming active. So, from File1 CTRL-TAB-TAB (through File2) to File3 (release CTRL), then CTRL-TAB goes back to File1 (File2 was never active). So CTRL-TAB now goes back to File3. It actually is much more usable than CTRL-TAB'ing through all open files or reaching for the SHIFT key to CTRL-SHIFT-TAB backwards.

 

2) I have not had much luck with multi-line search or replace. I've tried the RegExp search, but I don't have much luck with it for either search or replace.

 

3) I've never had problems searching for the '$' sign. I guess it would be a problem if the RegExp box is checked (since it is a meta-character in RegExp).

 

4) If you are running Linux, take a look at sed.

 

P.S. I'm running Notepad++ on Windows

[OM2]

thanks for the reply

i'm also using windows - i should have said

so the mass replacement like grep like fashion, needs to be in windows

 

the ctrl tab bit - i understand - but i STILL want to tab in the visual order i see

have u ever had 100 files opened!??

it's sooooo infuriating and really hard to use in that case

 

other program like dreamweaver have options about where the ctrl tab goes (i think - correct me if i'm wrong someone)

 

hmm... i honestly might have to stop using notepadd++ because of this

:(

[tibberous]

Use UEStudio instead - it doesn't even have CTRL+Tab, but you can click the tabs with your mouse.

[DavidAM]

@tibberous

When I am programming, my hands are on the keyboard. It is a waste of time to reach for the mouse for a simple operation that can be done from the keyboard.

 

@OM2

I am using v5.6.8 of Notepad++, if I go to Settings -> Preferences and select the MISC. tab, there is a group box labeled "Document Switcher". In that box is a check box labeled "Enable MRU behavior". If I uncheck that box, the CTRL-TAB switching changes to sequentially tab through the files. Give it a try, I think that is what you are looking for. By the way, if you uncheck the "Enable" option in that same group, CTRL-TAB works exactly like other Windows programs. (You don't even see the list, it just moves to the next file and CTRL-SHIFT-TAB moves to the previous file).

 

I have never had 100 files open at one time, maybe as many as 10. But once I got used to the "MRU Behavior", I found it helpful. I guess if I had found this option early on, I probably would have unchecked it.

 

I find the search feature usable, and have visited the website mentioned in the help file (http://www.scintilla.org/SciTERegEx.html). But it seems to behave differently than I am used to with PHP RegExp. So, I don't use the Regular Expression search as much as I would like to. My biggest complaint is that Compare plugin maps ALT-S to "Compare to Last Save" and I would often hit ALT-S when trying to quickly type ALT-F S (File -> Save). Whenever I did that, it would start a compare, but it LOST ALL CHANGES TO THE CURRENT FILE. I finally found the setting to remove the ALT-S mapping so it would quit, but man I lost a lot of code changes because of my fat fingers.

 

[Adam]

If you're searching with regex enabled, you should be able escape the dollar with a backslash.

[tibberous]

@tibberous

When I am programming, my hands are on the keyboard. It is a waste of time to reach for the mouse for a simple operation that can be done from the keyboard.

 

Do what I do - type with one hand and leave the other one on the mouse. You'd be amazed at how fast you will eventually be able to type with one hand - and since you rarely type long runs of text start-to-finish, the ability click more than makes up for the speed difference in typing.

[Adam]

Or... learn to use Vim. Typing with one hand would never be as fast as two, and I do as it happens type long runs of text start to finish.