I’ve been trying ST2 for a last few weeks and I have to say I’m pretty impressed - it is kind of a fresh air amongst other text editors on Windows. I have been using Notepad++ previously and because that one is freeware and ST2 is paid for, I’d like to gather a list of “cool features of ST2 that Notepad++ lacks” that I could possibly use to get management to buy us some licenses.

So far, from my limited experience, I’d start with:

• Some nice usability features (file preview without opening a buffer, find in files etc.)
• Go To Anything (Ctrl+P)
• Command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
• Console, commands and the ability to easily script almost anything (partly available in Notepad++ through macros, Run menu or Console plugin, but IMO not as elegantly as in ST2)
• Easier to write plugins
• The notion of projects
• Better snippets

I should just repeat that I’m specifically after interesting features when compared to Notepad++, not a full list of what ST2 can do. So if anyone has experience with both editors, possibly switched from N++ to ST2, it would be great if you could add more.

Thanks,
Borek

I was a hardcore N++ user before coming to Sublime Text… and even then it took me the better part of a year before purchasing it. But I finally did. To me, the two most notable features are multiple selections and the plugin community.

So multiple selections… when I first saw it, I was like “ok… I’ll never use that. Neat to watch, but that’s just not something that anyone would use.” Wow, was I wrong. I use it more than anything and is the MAIN feature that will keep me from using any other text editor in the future. Alt-F3 and Ctrl-D are my two most used hotkeys… along with Ctrl-Alt-[up or down] to create multiple selections. I used to have some screen casts I’d show off to friends to really show the power of multiple selection. I’ve since deleted them, but if you think it’d help I can put some together again. Let me know what kind of code would work best as an example to show off to your management.

Then there’s the plugin community (aka packages in ST2)… yeah, N++ has some plugins. Quite a few really - but for the most part it’s stagnant. It’s been awhile since I’ve looked, but I think I remember the plugins having to be written in C++? I could be completely wrong about that, but I think that writing plugins for N++ is something that the average person isn’t going to attempt. Looking at the ST2 community, you’ll find the complete opposite. Python pros and noobs are both creating GREAT plugins. Using WBond’s package control plugin, you can then have access to 360 plugins (again, aka packages) and growing. And those are just the ones registered with the package control plugin (many, many more hosted w/ Github).

Writing that last paragraph brings to mind an important third feature: the community. Using N++ I never felt like I was part of a community of N++ users. Every now and then I’d find someone else using it… with ST2, there’s a great community. For the most part people are willing to take time out to help the new guys, and even write custom packages, themes, etc.

Sorry for the short novel - I know you’re looking for feature lists - but I hope that helps some.

FYI: I’ve spent years working in N++ and still love it, but I needed cross-platform support and thus switched to Sublime Text 2 (ST2). ST2 has most all of the same features of N++ with added bonuses of (not including plug-ins/packages – stock install)…

(correct me where I’m wrong):

1. Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX support.
2. Much simpler way to configure key bindings and preferences (JSON-style files) (personal opinion)
3. Syntax specific preferences (hard to explain, but check it out under Preferences > Settings - More)
4. An active community
5. Spell-Checker
6. Wrap line at specified characters (Edit > Wrap) (e.g., "Wrap paragraph at ruler, Wrap paragraph at 70 characters, 80 characters, etc.)
7. True multi-select support (see http://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7164&p=30462#p30463)
8. Display multiple rulers (Preferences > Settings - User: “rulers”: [70, 80, 100])
9. Insert Line Before (inserts a line before the currently selected line)

UPDATED
10. Preview files (basically viewing the file without it creating a new tab across the top. Very useful. Is there a way to use this feature outside of a project?)
11. ST2 column select can be done with Mouse Wheel Click and Drag; N++ column select requires Alt + Click and Drag (As a keyboard guy, I’ve got mixed feelings about this as I have not found a keyboard shortcut for column selection.)

N++ has/ST2 Doesn’t:

1. Hide lines (similar, but not the same as collapsing blocks)
2. Print (believe it or not, ST2 does not come stock with the ability to print- why?!! http://sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/25170-printing/)
3. Mark All > Using Style 1, 2, 3, etc. (I miss this feature of N++. It was very useful at times.)

N++ also has multiple selections. It’s located under Settings > Preferences > Editing (Multi-Edit checkbox)

Sublime Text 2 implements multiple selections in a much better manner though. For example, if you multi-select in N++ and hit the return key, it only does the return on the last selection and clears your multi-select; ST2 does the exact same operations on every select, so if you have 9 locations selected and hit the return key, it will process that new line for each of the 9 locations, cool!

[quote=“phaygo”]N++ has/ST2 Doesn’t:

1. Hide lines (similar, but not the same as collapsing blocks)

2. Print (believe it or not, ST2 does not come stock with the ability to print- why?!! sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/25170-printing/)

3. Mark All > Using Style 1, 2, 3, etc. (I miss this feature of N++. It was very useful at times.)[/quote]

4. What’s that ? Removing lines from view ?

5. Print could now be done with the fantastic plugin from agibsonsw and facelessuser https://github.com/facelessuser/ExportHtml. It’s not as convenient as an integrated print function but the result is great. For people like me that print once a month is more than enough.

6. Again what’s that ?

[quote=“bizoo”]

[quote=“phaygo”]N++ has/ST2 Doesn’t:

1. Hide lines (similar, but not the same as collapsing blocks)

2. Print (believe it or not, ST2 does not come stock with the ability to print- why?!! sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/25170-printing/)

3. Mark All > Using Style 1, 2, 3, etc. (I miss this feature of N++. It was very useful at times.)[/quote]

4. What’s that ? Removing lines from view ?

5. Print could now be done with the fantastic plugin from agibsonsw and facelessuser https://github.com/facelessuser/ExportHtml. It’s not as convenient as an integrated print function but the result is great. For people like me that print once a month is more than enough.

6. Again what’s that ?[/quote]

7. Correct, it removes lines from view. This will hide any currently selected line(s). By default, N++ displays the collapse icons for blocks of code (left margin), but if you wish to hide individual lines (for whatever reason), you can hide just the lines you choose.

Select Lines > right-click on line > Hide Line

2. I was doing a comparison based strictly on stock options and printing is a clear difference. Does the package you link to actually send a file to a physical printer-- that’s what I was talking about. Sure, you can always open your document in another application to print if you need to.

3. If you select a word in N++ it automatically highlights all occurrences of that word in the document; once deselected, the highlighting is gone. “Search > Mark All > Using 1st/2nd/etc Style” the highlighting remains even after you’ve deselected the word. The advantage is that you can then use Ctrl+1(1st Style)/2 (2nd Style)/3/4/5 to jump to the next occurrence (they’re essentially saved “Find” results).
   (If you know how to do this in ST2, please let me know!)

Search > Find > Mark (You’ll find all sorts of goodies here)

[quote=“phaygo”]N++ also has multiple selections. It’s located under Settings > Preferences > Editing (Multi-Edit checkbox)

Sublime Text 2 implements multiple selections in a much better manner though. For example, if you multi-select in N++ and hit the return key, it only does the return on the last selection and clears your multi-select; ST2 does the exact same operations on every select, so if you have 9 locations selected and hit the return key, it will process that new line for each of the 9 locations, cool![/quote]

Yes, you’re right… but I don’t really consider that a useful or proper implementation when you compare it with ST2. I think “multiple selections” might not even be the best way to describe it, but rather “multiple cursors” - and like you said, you don’t lose those multiple cursors (until you hit Escape). Either way, you said it right: Cool!

@phaygo

2. It doesn’t send directly to the printer (although this is technically possible to implement). But it can be sent to your browser with the print option already requested. The key thing is that it keeps your chosen theme, or you can select an alternative, printer-friendly, scheme.

[quote=“phaygo”]
10. Preview files (basically viewing the file without it creating a new tab across the top. Very useful. Is there a way to use this feature outside of a project?)[/quote]

If you open a folder, you can preview files in the folder. I’ve created project files for some of the projects I work on but not others and preview works everywhere.

[quote=“phaygo”]
11. ST2 column select can be done with Mouse Wheel Click and Drag; N++ column select requires Alt + Click and Drag (As a keyboard guy, I’ve got mixed feelings about this as I have not found a keyboard shortcut for column selection.)[/quote]

Column selection in ST2 can be done using Shift+Alt+up/down to select a single column in a number of rows, then augmenting the selection using Shift+left/right to select additional columns in the rows. I would like to see this work with hjkl in vintage, however.

For me, personally, after all those months:

• Vintage mode (I never really use it, but I could!)

• GoTo Anything (yay!)

Enough reasons for me!

[quote=“ntenney”]

[quote=“phaygo”]
11. ST2 column select can be done with Mouse Wheel Click and Drag; N++ column select requires Alt + Click and Drag (As a keyboard guy, I’ve got mixed feelings about this as I have not found a keyboard shortcut for column selection.)[/quote]

Column selection in ST2 can be done using Shift+Alt+up/down to select a single column in a number of rows, then augmenting the selection using Shift+left/right to select additional columns in the rows. I would like to see this work with hjkl in vintage, however.[/quote]

Shift + Alt + up/down isn’t working for me. I’ll have to see if there’s a plugin conflicting with the shortcut (maybe?).

[quote=“phaygo”]

[quote=“ntenney”]

Column selection in ST2 can be done using Shift+Alt+up/down to select a single column in a number of rows, then augmenting the selection using Shift+left/right to select additional columns in the rows. I would like to see this work with hjkl in vintage, however.

Shift + Alt + up/down isn’t working for me. I’ll have to see if there’s a plugin conflicting with the shortcut (maybe?).[/quote]

I’m wondering if maybe it is from a plugin. I just checked the default keymap definitions and I can’t find a SHIFT+ALT+UP/DOWN combination.

[quote=“phaygo”]

Shift + Alt + up/down isn’t working for me. I’ll have to see if there’s a plugin conflicting with the shortcut (maybe?).[/quote]

Doh! I meant Ctrl+Alt+up/down.

[quote=“ntenney”]

[quote=“phaygo”]

Shift + Alt + up/down isn’t working for me. I’ll have to see if there’s a plugin conflicting with the shortcut (maybe?).[/quote]

Doh! I meant Ctrl+Alt+up/down.[/quote]

Haha, I make the same mistake all the time. I use Visual Studio for my C# work, and it uses Alt-Shift-Up/Down… so I’m constantly messing up. You’d think I’d change one or the other… maybe one day.

The Regular Expression engine in ST2 is much better than the one in Notepad++. Last time I checked, Notepad++ didn’t do multiple-line pattern matching very well. And unless it’s been heavily update, Notepad++ couldn’t handle a pattern like
rtd.(\n.)+more

to match “RTD” through “more” in the following:
RTD Search
Full-text doc search.
Table Of Contents
Editing
Overview
Transposing Things
And much, much more…