jEdit is a mature programmer's text editor with hundreds (counting the time developing plugins) of person-years of development behind it.
While jEdit beats many expensive development tools for features and ease of use, it is released as free software with full source code.
The jEdit Plugins can turn jEdit into a very advanced XML/HTML editor, or a full-fledged IDE, with compiler, code completion, context-sensitive help, debugging, visual diff, and many language-specific tools tightly integrated with the editor. More than 150 plugins are available.
Some of jEdit's features include:
* Written in Java, so it runs on Mac OS X, OS/2, Unix, VMS and Windows with a
Java 2 version 1.3 or higher virtual machine.
* Built-in macro language; extensible plugin architecture. Dozens of macros and plugins available.
* Plugins can be downloaded and installed from within jEdit using the "plugin manager" feature.
* Auto indent, and syntax highlighting for more than 130 languages.
* Efficient keyboard shortcuts for everything
* Comprehensive online help.
* Supports a large number of character encodings including UTF8 and Unicode.
* Supports syntax highlighting for more than 130 file types.
* Folding for selectively hiding regions of text.
* Word wrap.
* Unlimited undo/redo.
* Copy and paste with an unlimited number of clipboards (known as "registers").
* Register contents are saved across editing sessions.
* "Kill ring" automatically remembers previously deleted text.
* "Markers" for remembering positions in files to return to later
* Marker locations are saved across editing sessions
* Any number of editor windows may be open, each window may be split into several areas, each area can view a different file. Alternatively, different locations in one file can be viewed in more than one area
* Multiple open windows and split windows are remembered between editing sessions (4.2)
* Rectangular selection
* Multiple selection (sometimes known as "discontinuous" or "additive" selection) for manipulating several chunks of text at once
* Highly configurable and customizable.
* Every other feature, both basic and advanced, you would expect to find in a text editor.
