Code Editor: UltraEdit

UltraEdit is a powerful disk-based text editor, programmer’s editor, and hex editor that is used to edit HTML, PHP, JavaScript, Perl, C/C++, Python, and virtually any other coding/programming language. UltraEdit can handle and edit files in excess of 4 gigabytes. An industry award winning application, UltraEdit includes a free trial period so you can try all of the application’s features before purchasing a license.

UltraEdit supports 64-bit file handling on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows platforms (Windows 10 and later).

Text Editing Features

  • Disk based text editing – supports editing of large 4GB+ files, minimum RAM used
  • Configurable tab options (multiple tab stop values, use spaces instead of tabs, etc.)
  • Tab/word wrap options based on file type/extension
  • Insert/overstrike mode with caret and status bar indication
  • Paragraph alignment
    • Left, center, right, fill (for fixed pitch fonts)
    • Reformat paragraph (cleans up and beautifies text)
    • Line spacing support for single, 1.5 and double spacing
  • Drag-and-drop editing
  • Join line(s) (with optional consolidation of whitespace)
  • Double click (optional Shift modifier) to highlight all occurrences of selected word
  • Line Change Indicator (optional) in margin
    • Saved changes indicated in green
    • Unsaved changes indicated in red
    • Configurable colors (set in editor theme)
  • Auto-indent wrapped lines
  • Support for extremely long lines (up to 20,000 characters before wrap is added)
  • Home key positions at first non-space, then first character
  • IntelliMouse scrolling support
  • Native Unicode / UTF-8 editing support
  • Save selection as separate file
  • Revert to saved (refresh active file)
  • Favorite files list (store up to 50 of your favorite files)
  • Recently opened / closed files list
    • Configure number of files to show (up to 32)
    • Hold Ctrl + click multiple items in list to open at once
    • Open all recent files at once
  • Save state
    • Close UltraEdit without being prompted to save anything, then pick up where you left off – unsaved changes are restored
    • Works for local, network, FTP, and even unsaved “Edit” files
    • Prefer prompts to save? Disable this feature under Advanced » Settings » File handling » Session options
  • Make a copy/backup of active file
  • Rename active file
  • Delete active file
  • Zoom in or out on text with Ctrl + Mouse scroll wheel
  • Active line and active column highlighting
  • Optionally display spaces, tabs, and line breaks
  • Toggle line numbers and column ruler
  • Set UltraEdit to “Always on Top” to always keep it on top of other windows
  • Full screen mode to maximize editing space
  • Column mode (Alt + C) to make columnar/block selections
  • Quick column mode (hold Alt and drag mouse to make a block selection)
  • Editor Themes
    • Manage Themes dialog for creating and modifying themes:
      • Skin the entire application (dockable panes, menus, toolbars, file tabs, status bar, etc.)
      • Set editor colors
      • Set syntax highlighting colors
    • Switch themes with a single click
    • Use one of several pre-defined themes or create your own
    • When adding a new language for syntax highlighting, UltraEdit will automatically pick up your theme’s default colors for the new language
    • Import, export, and share your themes with others
  • Multi-caret editing and multi-selection
    • Use Ctrl + click to set multiple carets for editing in multiple locations at once
    • Use Ctrl + double click or Ctrl + Click n’ drag to make multiple non-contiguous selections for editing
    • Press Ctrl + Alt + Z to remove last set caret/selection
    • Ctrl + click on caret or selection to remove it from set
    • Select several contiguous lines, then Ctrl + Click beyond line end for quick end-of-line carets
    • Cut, copy, and paste multiple non-contiguous lines or selections at once
  • Hints bar
    • See tips and hints contextualized to the work you’re doing
    • Scroll through all hints
    • Hints are designed to be automatic and unobtrusive
  • Printing functionality, including:
    • Print preview
    • Print line numbers
    • Print command doesn’t print hidden lines
    • Headers/footers (with alignment commands), margins and page breaks
    • Printing of syntax highlighting in color
    • Print 2 pages on one sheet in landscape or portrait modes
    • Separate font selection for display and printer (supports all fonts installed including True Type fonts)
    • Print all open files
  • Multi-level undo and redo for nearly every editor function
  • Robust cut/copy/paste:
    • Copy syntax highlighted source as HTML or RTF
    • Paste HTML source or raw RTF
    • Cut/Copy and append to existing data on clipboard
    • Copy full file path and name
    • Multiple (up to 9) user clipboards in addition to Windows clipboard
    • Option to convert file from ANSI to UTF-8 when pasting Unicode/UTF-8 content
  • Text selecting features:
    • Select entire file, select line, or select word
    • Select user-defined range of text
    • Persistent selection
    • Triple click to select a line
    • Click a line number in the margin to select the line
  • Text deletion features:
    • Delete selection
    • Delete from current caret position to start of line or end of line
    • Delete all bookmarked lines
    • Delete all hidden lines
    • Delete all empty and / or whitespace-only lines
  • Move active line up or down
  • Duplicate active line
  • Spell checking
    • Windows 8 and later uses native Windows spell checker with support for all installed (Windows) languages
    • Windows 7 uses third party Aspell spell checker (limited support for UTF-8 and non-Latin languages)
    • Spell check only in comments, only in strings, only in both, or everything
  • Interactive spell check while typing
  • Word wrap (toggle on or off):
    • wrap at window edge
    • wrap at user-defined column number
    • absolute wrap (wrap inside words)
  • Open file tabs
    • File tabs provide quick access to and easy switching between all open files
    • Sort file tabs (open files) by:
      • Name
      • File extension
      • Location
      • Date modified
    • Two styles: dockable or fixed
    • Multi-row file tabs or single row with tab overflow options
    • Dockable file tabs can be docked or floating outside of the application
    • Drag file tabs to split the window (horizontally or vertically) multiple times
    • Set file tabs to auto-hide and expand them on mouse hover
    • Tab close button optionally available on active file tab or end of tab row
    • Middle-click to close file tab
    • Double-click empty file tab area to open a new/blank file
    • Close tabs to the left/right
    • File tabs background coloring based on file extension
    • File status icons (new, saved, unsaved, read-only, etc.) in file tab
    • Drag-and-drop a file tab outside of the application to open it in a new instance of UltraEdit
    • Rename an unsaved file tab
  • Integrated file viewer (tabbed interface) includes:
    • File explorer (select multiple files to open them) with system file icons and file information
    • Optional split view for local, network, and remote/FTP files
    • Explorer includes (optional) Windows explorer right-click context menu
    • Right-click a folder and select “Open Files” to see all files in that folder, filter, and sort them
    • List of open files (close/save/tile/print selected files)
    • List of project files (open selected files)
    • “Lists” tab for user favorites and user-created file groups/lists
    • Filter for file view and file explorer
    • File find for “open files” tab
    • FTP/SFTP account access in file tree view
    • Right click to compare from explorer view
    • Drag-and-drop files from the file view to open them in UE
    • Drag-and-drop file tabs into the file view to add them to project or lists/favorites
  • Multiline find and replace dialogs for all searches (Find, Replace, Find in Files, Replace in Files)
  • Unlimited bookmarks
    • Click in margin to toggle bookmark
    • Set unlimited bookmarks in a file…even multi-GB files with hundreds of thousands of bookmarks
    • Dynamically named bookmarks include line #, column #, text from file, file path
    • Bookmark viewer with ability to sort on any parameter
    • Go to next/previous bookmark
    • Clear all bookmarks
    • Delete all bookmarked lines
  • Count words in entire file or in selected text if selection exists (includes line count)
  • Insert lines, page breaks, or even an entire file at current cursor position
  • Insert string at every increment (ideal for formatting database records and inserting hard returns)
  • Insert date/time (F7) into active text file at current position
  • Zoom in/out on text by increasing/decreasing font size (Ctrl + mouse wheel)
  • Full help file/manual with indexed and searchable contents
  • Context sensitive help (press F1 to access help topic for current command/location)
  • Plenty of power tips at your disposal to maximize your efficiency

Find and Replace Features

  • Quick Find (similar to search in web browsers)
    • Press Ctrl + F and type search string to quickly jump to next occurrence and highlight all matches
    • Press Ctrl + F a second time to open regular Find dialog
    • Press Enter to move to next match or Ctrl + Enter to move to previous match
    • Input turns red when no matches are found
    • Includes next / previous buttons and “…” button to expand to regular Find dialog
    • Supersedes and replaces incremental search
  • Find, find next, find previous, replace and replace all
    • Select text between caret and find target by holding Shift
    • Unobtrusive notification when search wraps to other end of file
    • Find and replace will (optionally) step through all open files
    • Save, name, and edit favorite search and replace strings/regular expressions for later use
    • Search “In” option defaults to selected text if you select 2 or more lines
  • Full regular expression support for Find/Replace (Perl syntax, Unix syntax, and UltraEdit/legacy syntax) including support for tagged regular expressions
  • Regular expression quick reference / regex builder
  • Preserve case option to preserve the case of a word when being replaced
  • F3 will search and highlight next occurrence of string if find dialog is closed
  • Hide all lines or show all lines containing search string
  • Find/Replace in column; column positions automatically from start and end positions of selected text
  • List Lines Containing String” option to open lines with matches in Find String list
    • Double-click an entry to jump to the line with highlighting of match
    • Copy results to clipboard
    • Create new file from results
    • Bookmark or delete all lines
    • Optionally show line numbers and match highlighting
    • Automatic or manual refresh
  • Bookmark matching lines from Find
    • Allows you to quickly and easily delete, cut, or copy all lines containing search string
    • Clear search bookmarks while preserving manually set bookmarks
  • Highlight all found occurrences of string
  • Count number of occurrences of string
  • Find in files/replace in files:
    • Specify multiple directory paths for searching
    • Interactive Replace in Files allows you to optionally step through the replace file-by-file, skipping files or directories you wish to leave alone
    • Find or Replace a string in multiple files by directory, in all open files, in project files, or in your favorite files
    • Optionally open matching files
    • Full regular expression support including regex guide/builder
    • Specify file extensions to search in find/replace in files
    • User-configurable ignore options for directories/files
    • Send results to output window and double-click (or new file, and right-click) result to open and jump to result
    • Separate threading for find/replace in files (allows you to continue working while searching files)
    • Option to match files not containing find string
    • Optionally set Find in Files to auto-detect each searched file’s encoding, or use active file’s encoding, or select which encoding to use
    • Use empty find string to create listing of all files matching directory/name specification
    • Replace in files includes option to list changed files and number of changes
    • Customize the output format of find/replace in files results
  • “Filter on selection” to only show lines containing selected text
  • Find matching braces (Ctrl + B) plus automatic brace highlighting
  • When cursor is next to an open or close brace, editor will highlight its matching brace
  • Quick find box/dropdown (with recent find history) on toolbar for quick access to find
  • Find dialogs can optionally default to word under caret
  • Configurable special character (default is ‘^’) for matching tabs, line breaks, etc. in find/replace:
    • ^t matches a tab character
    • ^p matches DOS/Windows line terminators (CR/LF, or hex 0D 0A)
    • ^n matches Unix line terminators (LF, or hex 0A)
    • ^r matches Mac (classic) terminators (CR, or hex 0D)
  • Back/forward buttons in main toolbar take you to the previous place you edited, scrolled from, or jumped to a tag from etc. and works across multiple files
  • Incremental search
  • All find/replace dialogs support Unicode

Programming/Web Development Features

  • Full FTP support
    • Support for SFTP (SSH2) and FTPS (Control only, Control and data, Implicit)
    • “Open from FTP” and “Save as to FTP” dialogs
    • Ability to link local folder and remote folder and upload, download, and sync files between remote server and local system
      • Set linked files to automatically upload on file save (context menu in Project pane)
      • Manually save files locally and upload to FTP server at once
    • Select and open multiple files from FTP
    • Optional default local default directory for each FTP account
    • Ability to create new file on server from FTP window
    • Transfer info logged in color coded format in “FTP Transfers” tab of output window
    • Support for ASCII, binary, and passive transfers
    • Access FTP accounts and files from the explorer window
    • Robust server support including AIX / AS400 / BS2000 / MVS / HP3000 / OpenVMS / OS9000 / Stratus VOS / Tandem / Unix / VShell (and auto-detection of server type)
    • Public/private key encryption and PuTTY key format support for SFTP
    • Store FTP accounts and settings in a user-definable file
    • Ability to set a remote (server based) or local (Perl regex based) filter (provides filtering for SFTP)
    • Asynchronous save/open of FTP/SFTP Files
    • Interactive login option for two-factor authentication (2FA) / TOTP
    • Advanced proxy support
    • Advanced SSL certificate handling
    • Optional FTP account sharing with UltraCompare Professional
  • Multi-pane FTP browser
    • Split file view for both local and remote pane
    • Drag-and-drop or press Enter to download / upload files
    • Color-coded logging of transfers
    • Create, rename, and delete files and folders (both local and remote) via context menu
  • SSH/telnet console with optional logging and configurable terminal colors
  • Highly configurable syntax highlighting:
    • Unlimited number of syntax highlighting languages supported
    • Add and remove languages for highlighting directly from config
    • Each wordfile saved separately into wordfile directory
    • Pre-configured for C/C++, VB, ASP, Java, PHP, XML, HTML, JavaScript, Perl and more
    • Special handling for Fortran and LaTex
    • Hundreds of syntax highlighting wordfiles available for download
    • Allows different background colors
    • Support to highlight words beginning with a certain character (for instance variable highlighting using $ in PHP)
    • Code folding based on indentation level (especially useful for Python)
    • Automatic highlighting based on file name or extension
    • Automatic highlighting based on shebang line (for Perl, Python, etc.) – customizable
    • Font styling for syntax highlighting in addition to color styling
    • Multi-language highlighting (e.g., PHP/HTML/JavaScript highlighting in the same file)
    • Full Unicode support: create wordfiles with UTF-8 characters
  • Smart Templates (code completion and auto-expanding text)
    • Templates grouped globally, per environment, and per programming language
    • Default language templates provided for most major programming languages
    • Create templates with multiple user-defined variables (provide variable text when templates is inserted)
    • Support for special/dynamic data in templates (see Help documentation for details)
    • Template “Auto-suggestion” (provides smart suggestion of matching template based on what you type)
    • Optionally disable auto-suggestion in comments and strings
    • Select and insert templates through auto-complete dialog (Ctrl + Spacebar)
    • Drag and drop templates from Template List to active file to insert them
    • Create an unlimited number of templates
  • Code Folding
    • Fold any function or structure (all popular languages supported)
    • “Collapse All” and “Expand All” folded nodes
    • Special highlighting colors for folded lines (set in editor theme)
    • Code folding icon on folded line – hover to “peek” at folded code (shown in tooltip)
    • (Optional) graphical folding guide lines
    • (Optional) folding level guides and current fold-level highlighting
    • Ctrl + Click to collapse (or expand) clicked-on node and all its sub-nodes
    • Alt + Click to collapse (or expand) all folding nodes in the entire file
    • Support for ignore strings and comment strings
    • Add your own custom folding strings (in wordfile)
    • Folding processed in separate thread for fast performance
    • Dynamic updating of folding structures
  • Function list (dockable/hideable list)
    • See all functions in source file in a tree view, including subgroups (parameters, variables, properties, etc.)
    • Supports function listing for all project files
    • Double-click function to jump to it in the file
    • Active function highlighting
    • GUI for adding, removing, and modifying function group and subgroup strings
    • Define an unlimited number of function strings (regular expressions)
  • CSS color tooltips
    • Hover over CSS color definition to see color preview
    • Ctrl + Click on preview swatch to select and insert a new color into file
    • Supported color formats:
      • Hex RGB
      • Functional notation RGB
      • RGBA
      • HSL
      • HSLA
    • Supported file types:
      • HTML
      • CSS
      • Javascript
      • PHP
      • Perl
      • Python
      • Ruby
  • Compute hash for active file or selected text
    • MD5, CRC, SHA1, and SHA256 algorithms supported
    • Copy hash value(s) from result dialog
    • Key mappable
    • Command line syntax available
    • No file size limitation
  • Automatic HTML detection, code folding, and indentation
  • Full HTML5 support, including highlighting, tags, etc.
  • HTML Tidy support (integrated) for validating and reformatting HTML – more info
  • Brace and string auto-completion
  • Automatic HTML and XML tag completion
  • XML and HTML open/close tag matching
  • HTML toolbar preconfigured for popular HTML functions as well as custom HTML toolbar commands
  • View rendered HTML within UltraEdit
  • Live HTML preview, for side-by-side editing with real-time updating
    • Split window with code view and Edgium-based browser view
    • Code changes (saved and unsaved) are automatically updated in browser view
    • Position sync: Double-click on element in preview to jump to its location in source
    • Configure under Advanced » Settings » Editor » XML / HTML / Markdown
  • Drag and drop images / graphics, or browse to images, to insert them in active HTML / CSS file
    • For most HTML and web files, <img> links will be automatically inserted
    • For CSS files, the background property with URL to the image will be inserted
    • Modify the HTML / CSS formats for inserted images
    • Hold Ctrl while dragging-and-dropping to modify the format on the fly
  • Base64 encoding and decoding (on selected text)
  • Option to avoid converting tabs to spaces in strings/comments
  • Special CSS support
  • Special JavaScript support
    • Compress / decompress JavaScript file
    • Run JavaScript lint on active file to check for syntactical errors
  • Special XML support
  • Special JSON support
    • JSON Manager (shows parsed tree-style view of JSON objects and key / value pairs)
      • Browse, edit, delete, duplicate, copy and paste objects or keys / values
      • Identify and resolve JSON syntax errors
      • Drag-and-drop JSON objects and keys / values to move them in document
    • Compress JSON (remove line breaks and extra whitespace)
    • Reformat (pretty-print) JSON – convert single line of JSON data
    • Special JSON code highlighting support
  • Special Markdown support
    • Preview Markdown files (via Coding » Live preview or Browser view)
    • Select different styles for Markdown rendering (or add your own)
    • Special Markdown syntax highlighting with support for embedded HTML highlighting
  • Project support (logical grouping and ordering of files/folders)
    • Easy creation or switching of projects via “Project” menu
    • Access entire project in File View (Ctrl + U)
    • Separate project file for user-specific and workspace information
    • Open multiple files as a single project/workspace
    • Delete files from project
    • Recent project list showing up to eight of the last projects opened
    • Automatic detection of UltraEdit project file when loaded or dropped onto UltraEdit
    • Project specific user tools (in addition to standard set) with custom bitmaps
    • User/project tools supports having output go directly to the active document
    • Virtual “group” support for projects allows files to be grouped together
    • Support for nested groups with no limit on depth
    • Project/favorites – add files/add all open files dialog allows multiple file selection
    • Directory groups dynamically updated
    • Direct addition/removal of files from File Tree View
    • Recursive addition of files/folders
    • Filter files to include/exclude from project
    • Specify optional wordfile for syntax highlighting in project files
    • Specify optional project-related macro file for autoload
    • Create a Ctag file for your project, click on a symbol in your source code, then use Find Symbol (F11) to find jump to its definition
  • Dockable tag list
    • Provides language-specific HTML-style tags that can automatically be inserted into file
    • Tags are inserted around selected text
  • Ctags support:
    • Project-specific Ctag file with option to create automatically when opened
    • Configurable parameters and tag file for use outside of projects
    • “Find Symbol” (F11) jumps to definition of selected/active function, variable, class, etc.
  • Web Search Toolbar: highlight text and click a web search toolbar button to search for highlighted term from within the editor (or assign it a custom hotkey or add it to your menus)
    • Google search
    • Yahoo search
    • Wikipedia
    • Dictionary.com
    • Thesaurus.com
    • Whois
    • Network Solutions Whois
    • PHP.net search
    • cplusplus.com search
    • MSDN online search
  • Add line comments or block comments to selected text
  • Artistic style (Astyle) formatter:
    • Beautify and reformat your source code in a single click
    • Configure a variety of options and parameters for reformatting
    • Optionally specify an external configuration file
  • Insert color value into active file via color picker; formats include decimal, hex, HTML, and RGB
  • Number convertor (selected number to binary, octal, decimal or hexadecimal)
  • Auto-completion for coding language
    • When invoked all the keywords from syntax highlighting will be available in the list (if the file uses syntax highlighting)
    • A user-specified file may be used to provide the strings for auto-completion
    • UltraEdit will search back 50K in the file for words that match a partially typed word and offer these as options
  • Reindent/reformat source code based on syntax highlighting indent/unindent strings
  • Auto-correct case of keywords (optionally) based on definitions in wordfile

Advanced Features

  • Shell integration adds “UltraEdit” option to right-click context menu in Windows explorer
    • Open selected file(s) in UltraEdit
    • Open folder in UltraEdit
      • Selected folder set as root in file view “Explorer” pane
      • Selected folder set as “Find in files” and “File open” default directories
  • Configurable tool support (run compiler, run a batch file, integrate with version control, etc.) provides smart and dynamic command-line interaction with active file(s)
  • Completely configurable key-mapping
    • Keyboard shortcuts for nearly everything
    • Multi complex key mappings (“chords”)
    • View/print key mapping from within UltraEdit
  • Right-click on a file path or URL in the active file to access option to open it
  • Integrated scripting language (based on JavaScript) to programmatically automate tasks
    • Includes most powerful JavaScript functions (loop, while, case/switch, variables, arrays, etc.)
    • Edit scripts from within UltraEdit
    • Access most UltraEdit commands via scripts (file opening, saving, editing, run tools, access clipboards, etc.)
    • Script list accessible as docked window
    • Include one or multiple scripts in another
    • Scripts can be assigned hotkeys for fast access
    • Scripts can write output to output window to allow for debugging
    • Launch script in UltraEdit from command line
    • Add script(s) to ribbon or toolbar
  • Editable macros
    • Automated macro recording; edit a macro when finished recording
    • Set macro file to load (and optionally run) macro when UltraEdit starts
    • Load, save, and run multiple macros with hotkeys
    • Special characters ^c and ^s allow access to copied and selected text, respectively
    • Optionally disable screen updates during playback for faster performance
    • Set a macro to automatically execute on every file open or save
    • Save all your macros to one file
    • Assign custom hotkeys and chords to macros
    • Macro commands support conditional loops, “if” statements, and comments
    • Column mode functions accessible from within macros
    • Run tools from within macros
    • Change clipboard in macro
    • Launch macro in UltraEdit from command line
    • Add macro(s) to ribbon or toolbar
  • Command palette
    • Easy and quick access to all of UltraEdit’s functionality and settings via Ctrl + Shift + P
    • Filter commands in search box at top
    • Pin favorite commands / settings to top of list
    • Access recently used commands in MRU list
    • Run macros, scripts, and user tools directly from command palette
    • Press \ to open a previously opened file
    • Open files directly by typing their paths, with auto-complete and wildcard support
    • Press : go to line/col, page break, or bookmark
  • Column/block mode editing
    • Ability to edit text files based on columns (blocks) instead of rows
    • Select a column (instead of a row) and type characters to insert
    • Multi-line caret for typing into multiple columns at once
    • Ability to run a search and replace on a selected column/block (instead of rows)
    • Insert, fill, delete, or cut columns
    • Insert sequential numbers in column (hex/decimal)
    • Sum selected columns (selection must contain numbers)
    • Column mode justify (left, right, center) to justify text within the specified columns
    • Set a different font for column mode
  • Column markers
    • Set and toggle column markers to display a vertical line at specified columns
    • Optional fixed non-scrollable area (columns left of the first column marker)
    • Create an unlimited number of column markers and column marker “groups”

  • Highly configurable and aesthetically pleasing layout/window theme
    • Ability to auto-hide child windows or “tab” them within each other for a cleaner workspace
    • While dragging and positioning windows, auto-docking controls will activate
    • Duplicate window of the active file
    • Split active file’s window
    • Tile edit windows horizontally/vertically
    • Access previous/next edit window
    • Cascade windows
  • “Open as” (in File Open dialog) to force loading files as binary, UTF-8, and other Unicode-based formats
  • File encryption/decryption
    • Based on Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) algorithm
    • Encrypted files can only be decrypted in UltraEdit
  • ASCII/binary file compare (saving and or printing of difference summary) with UltraCompare Lite
  • Full integration with UltraCompare Professional for two- or three-way file and folder compare
  • File data sorting
    • Sort ascending/descending
    • Sort on entire line or on 4 sort “keys” (columns of data to evaluate in sorting)
    • Remove duplicates based on any or all sort keys
    • Sort keys auto-populate from column mode selection
    • Tab-delimited or custom-delimited sort (useful for sorting IP addresses)
  • Output window
    • Resizable, can be docked or floating
    • Create as many output windows as desired
    • Rename output windows tabs
    • Used (optionally) for Find in Files results
      • Collapsible find in files results (per file)
      • Syntax highlighting for find in files results
    • Shows script or tool output
    • Double-click a file name to open it in UltraEdit (including support for specified line/column number)
    • Double-clicking in the output window will look for a file in project directory if not fully qualified and not found in active file directory
  • ASCII table – allows viewing and insertion of all available ASCII characters
  • File format/line terminator conversions:
    • Unix/Mac line terminator conversions (to/from DOS), EBCDIC file conversions (to/from ASCII), OEM conversions (to/from ANSI)
    • Convert from ASCII to Unicode/UTF-8 (Big endian, little endian, ASCII-escaped Unicode)
    • Configure UltraEdit to automatically or prompt to convert non-DOS formatted files
  • Automatic font / script substitution for non-Roman and OEM character sets
  • Create new files as Unicode or UTF-8 instead of regular ASCII
  • Code page detection / conversion support
  • Ability to set fallback encoding / code page when auto-detection cannot determine with high accuracy
  • Character properties popup dialog shows:
    • Value of character in decimal/hex and display
    • Offset of character from start of file in decimal/hex
  • Completely configurable toolbars/menus: customize existing or add your own
  • View/hide toolbars and/or status bar
  • Status bar:
    • Includes status information (# of matches, replacements, etc.)
    • Shows active line / column
    • Shows active clipboard (system clipboard or one of the nine user clipboards)
    • Displays number of bytes and lines selected
    • Displays active file’s line terminator type (CR/LF – DOS, LF – Unix, CR – Mac legacy)
    • Displays active file’s encoding (UTF-8, UTF-16, ANSI, etc.)
      • Optionally select different encoding for viewing file from status bar menu
    • Displays active file’s code language highlighting
      • Optionally select different highlighting type from status bar menu
    • Shows active file’s last modified date / time
    • Shows active file’s size (bytes) and total number of lines
    • Indicates whether file is read-only (with option to toggle)
    • Indicates whether insert or overstrike mode is active (with option to toggle)
    • Indicates whether column mode is active (with option to toggle)
    • Indicates whether caps lock is on
  • Completely configurable right-click context menu
  • Edit files with hex nulls (00) with configuration option to convert nulls to spaces
  • Multi-byte support with integrated IME support
  • DDE support with full command line options
  • Open multiple files at once from the file open dialog and command line
  • Open files as read-only, or open files and lock them for use
  • Read-only indicators
    • Set optional background color for read-only files
    • “Lock” icon displayed in file tab if file is read-only
  • Quick Open” toolbar to open all matching files recursively through sub directories
  • Option to open file without temp file (with threshold size to allow only large files to use this option)
  • Configurable file change detection with option to compare externally detected changes in UltraCompare Pro
  • File change polling
    • Poll file for changes at set interval
    • UltraEdit will automatically scroll to bottom of file when changes are detected (optional)
  • “Send Mail” feature sends the active file as an email attachment (selected programs only)
  • Position cursor beyond line end
  • Commands to position active line at top, middle or bottom of screen
  • Support for alternate data streams on NTFS operating systems
  • Support for optional multiple instances
  • Configurable default edit window size
  • View page breaks as lines
  • Selectable OEM character set – option for fonts that support it
  • Line numbering is based on real lines (not wrapped lines)
  • Formatting conversions:
    • Convert CR/LF’s to word wrap (removes CR/LF’s from file)
    • Convert word wrap to CR/LF’s allowing word wrap to be written to file with hard returns
    • Tabs to spaces
    • Spaces to tabs for all tabs, or just leading tabs in a line
    • Character-delimited files to fixed-column (CSV file support)
    • Fixed-column file to character-delimited
    • Lower to Upper Case or vice versa
    • Invert case/capitalization
    • Capitalize every word in selection
  • Backup and auto-save:
    • Every file can be backed up on save
    • Create incremental/versioned backups with configurable save format
    • Set timed backup/auto-save
    • Auto-save files when application loses focus
    • Auto-save and backup FTP files
    • Set custom backup directory
  • Trim trailing spaces (set to execute on save)
  • Auto-recovery of modified files after system/application crash
  • Option to minimize UltraEdit to system tray
  • Option to minimize UltraEdit on close of last open file
  • Run DOS command or Window program directory from UltraEdit
  • Launch a new instance of UltraEdit directly from UltraEdit
  • Extensive command line options (see Help file for full documentation)
    • INI file selection using command line – great for multiple configurations (see Help file for full documentation)
    • Command line parameter (/a) to allow specifying an already open file without having the prompt to reload it (just position to specified line)
    • Use -lx and -cx parameters following each file to specify line and column position when opening
    • Run scripts/macros from command line then automatically exit once completed
  • Streamlined update/upgrade process
    • Check for free updates
    • Check for updates notifies if update is free or paid
    • Patch files (instead of EXEs)
    • Backup and restore toolbars, menus, settings, and other personal customizations
  • MSI Installer support for mass deployment or silent installs

Hex editing features

  • Ctrl + H enabled hex mode for the active file, providing hex and ASCII view
  • Optionally disable automatic hex mode for files containing nulls (hex 00)
  • Configure number of hex bytes per line in hex mode
  • Hex rule provides hexadecimal positions
  • Find/Replace hex bytes
  • Insert or delete actual hex values while in hex mode
  • EBCDIC/hex combined view without conversion
  • All copy/cut/paste functions available for manipulating hex data
  • Copy selected hex view of text to clipboard