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’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.
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.
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.
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
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’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.
CudaText is pretty good replacement for notepad++
Never heard of it, so now I will take a look. Thanks for sharing.
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 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.
Same, I was using sublime text but it’s paid and I was just ignoring the messages so I switched to kate
I can second Kate. It’s pretty good.