I use Kate pretty much the same way I used Notepad++, except I think I like Kate better since it clicks with my brain. It also probably(?) has more features.
Notepad++ sits at an odd place. It’s heavier than Vim or Emacs. It’s not as feature-rich as some IDEs. That’s why it failed in Linux where alternatives are many.
It’s lightweight, can run portably, and has some oddly specific but useful features such as dual window linked scrolling, syntax highlighting, and even allows regex for search/replace which is neat.
You can use it for coding (I use it for short python scripts), but that isn’t it’s main use.
VScode is, primarily, an IDE - not really something you use as a plain text editor.
I use Notepad++ for coding daily. I’m not a fan of things like autocomplete, and the times I need to look up a definition, the search is fast enough to make up for a lack of indexing. And the regex implementation is great.
I’m still looking for a Linux replacement with syntax highlighting like Notepad++. Kate is good, even better performance, but no UI for highlighting. The coding for syntax is way over my head from what I saw.
Looks like it’s actually available by default. The json thing is for the language server which does linting and autocomplete.
To activate syntax highlighting just select the language of your choice by pressing the language name on the very bottom right corner of the window and choose the correct language.
I’ve recently switched from np++ to Sublime for some non-standard issues – I would say that could be closer in performance & extensibility to Vim/Emacs; though limited to GUI and non-FOSS of course.
For those who want to stick with Windows, Notepad++ is far superior anyway.
Oddly enough, Notepad++ doesn’t really have a full featured native Linux alternative (as of my last deep search around June 2025).
I don’t know what you’d consider an alternative exactly, but Sublime Text is quite good and lightweight
I use Kate pretty much the same way I used Notepad++, except I think I like Kate better since it clicks with my brain. It also probably(?) has more features.
I can second Kate. It’s pretty good.
Same, I was using sublime text but it’s paid and I was just ignoring the messages so I switched to kate
Notepad++ sits at an odd place. It’s heavier than Vim or Emacs. It’s not as feature-rich as some IDEs. That’s why it failed in Linux where alternatives are many.
Geany and Notepad++ are built on the same text editing component.
https://www.geany.org/
I already use geany as my main DE! It’s got a lot of great features, but it’s not really a notepad app.
How’s Notepad++ compare to VS Code (or VSCodium) they seem pretty similar
Notepad++ is, at its heart, a text editor.
It’s lightweight, can run portably, and has some oddly specific but useful features such as dual window linked scrolling, syntax highlighting, and even allows regex for search/replace which is neat.
You can use it for coding (I use it for short python scripts), but that isn’t it’s main use.
VScode is, primarily, an IDE - not really something you use as a plain text editor.
I use Notepad++ for coding daily. I’m not a fan of things like autocomplete, and the times I need to look up a definition, the search is fast enough to make up for a lack of indexing. And the regex implementation is great.
I’m still looking for a Linux replacement with syntax highlighting like Notepad++. Kate is good, even better performance, but no UI for highlighting. The coding for syntax is way over my head from what I saw.
Kate does have syntax highlighting. You have to configure it once in a JSON and that’s it.
I have no clue where to start with that.
Looks like it’s actually available by default. The json thing is for the language server which does linting and autocomplete.
To activate syntax highlighting just select the language of your choice by pressing the language name on the very bottom right corner of the window and choose the correct language.
I’ve recently switched from np++ to Sublime for some non-standard issues – I would say that could be closer in performance & extensibility to Vim/Emacs; though limited to GUI and non-FOSS of course.
CudaText is pretty good replacement for notepad++
Never heard of it, so now I will take a look. Thanks for sharing.