Mac Text Editor For Mac

At its core, a text editor does what it says on the tin: it allows you to edit text. But wait, you say, I already have a way to edit text on my Mac. Maybe it’s Pages or Microsoft Word, or perhaps you use an online option, like Google Docs or Dropbox Paper.

There is no shortage of options for text editors geared towards developers on the Mac, but TextMate is our top pick. It wins out thanks to its massive programming language syntax support, helpful code snippets, expandability, and integration with the OS X terminal.

TextMate

Platform: Mac OS X
Price: Free!
Download Page

Features

  • Column Selections and Column Typing
  • Expand Trigger Words to Code Blocks With Tab-able Placeholders
  • Support for Darcs, Perforce, SVK, and Subversion
  • Works As External Editor for (s)ftp Programs

Note: This feature list is borrowed from the TextMate site and the links will take you directly to TextMate's pages containing more info on each feature.

Mac Text Editor For Mac

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Where It Excels

TextMate is excellent. It's as simple as you need it to be, providing only a single window for editing a single document, or it can expand to handling a large file structure. It supports syntax highlighting for practically any programming language you can think of, plus it contains code snippets. These things can be expanded by downloading third-party add-ons. TextMate has great code organization features. It updates frequently enough that you feel taken care of but not so frequently you want to smack it in the face (like with Evernote). You can even use TextMate as your text editor in the terminal with the command mate. If you're looking for a WYSISYG editor, TextMate—and this entire category—is not for you. If you just want to write code in a great editor, you've come to the right app.

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Where It Falls Short

Organizing the files you're currently working on could be a little more user-friendly, as it can be a little bit tedious if you don't open your entire work folder immediately at launch. The undo history is so detailed that you can find yourself pressing Command+Z a lot just to get back to the place you wanted. Generally it's just faster to retype it. Overall, though, there's very little to complain about. At one point we complained about its $58 price tag, but now that TextMate is open-source and free it's got almost everything going for it.

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The Competition

It's impossible to avoid mentioning SublimeText because it's so similar. It has almost the same support for language syntax as TextMate, and even has a Windows version as well (which is where the app originated, but that Mac version is still very Mac-like). Honestly, whether you use Sublime Text or TextMate is really going to come down to preference. They're both excellent and both, perhaps, a bit too expensive. They also both come with trials, so you can check them both out and decide for yourself.

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But maybe you're someone who doesn't want to pay for their programming-friendly text editor. If that's you, there are a couple of other alternatives that don't cost a thing. First, TextWrangler is a capable option with a loyal user base (if they haven't already upgraded to its big brother BBEdit), but it's a little low on capabilities and has an interface that feels pretty dated. Alternatively, there's Fraise (the successor to Smultron), which is another free, capable, but not-as-amazing-as-TextMate (and Sublime Text) text editor.

The other free option that's probably most like TextMate (and Sublime Text, for that matter) is Kod. It supports over 65 languages, is remarkably fast and lightweight, and only comes with one real disadvantage: it's in its early stages of development. When I checked it out earlier this year, however, it was pretty solid. Kod is very much worth a look, even if it hasn't been around for quite as long as the others.

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Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.

Free Text Editor For Mac Download

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Amidst every hype, that Microsoft or Windows ever created, Macintosh hardware, Mac OS made its own place in the world of a desktop system. To make Mac OS more convenient and user-friendly, text editors prove their worth. Text editor plays various important roles from note making to programming. It does not only edit text as in document text but work as a code compiler which is where their true potential lies. More and exceeded numbers of plug-ins in a text editor can really increase productivity and speed and may even extend to debugging.

10 Best Text Editors for Mac OS

To make Mac OS quite simpler, we have come up with 10 BEST TEXT EDITORS FOR MAC OS.

1. TextMate

Textmate brings Apple approach Oss into the world of text editors. TextMate is a versatile plain text editor. It has innovative and unique features like:

  • auto-pairing for brackets
  • ability to search and replace in a project
  • auto indent
  • foldable code block
  • support for Darcs, Perforce, SVK and Subversion
  • Themable Syntax Highlight Colours
  • Works as External Editor for (s)ftp programs.

It supports almost 80 programming languages and writes prose in structured format. It had won Apple Design Award for best Mac OS X Developer Tool in August 2006. You can directly download from the given link: https://macromates.com.

2. Textastic

Textastic is a simple and fast, text, code and mark up editor. It has brilliant features like:

  • syntax highlighting more than 80 types of files
  • open files in tabs and folder in sidebars
  • always restore files and windows when reopening the app

Its improved version has come up with features like improved indentation, code completion and file navigation with the symbol list.

It supports most of the modern Mac features. In short, it is a desktop companion to the popular iOS code editor. You can download this app from the given link: https://www.textasticapp.com

3. Brackets

Brackets is a lightweight version 1.11 yet powerful modern mac text editor made by web developers. It is open source code editor which is helpful for web designer and front-end developer. It has easy control flow and easily inspecting variables.

The thing that sets brackets apart from other text editors is its elegant interface and unique extract features which basically allow grabbing font, gradients, colors, measurement etc, from a PSD file into a clean CSS ready for web usage. It also supports ECMA script.

You can download Brackets from the given link: brackets.io

4. UltraEdit

UltraEdit is the next popular text editor in a row of popular text editors. It has ample amount of features which makes it different from other text editors available. Some of the features are out of the box like:

  • themes for Mac and Linux
  • multi caret editing and multi selection
  • capabilities robust search
  • Integrated ftp, column mode and retina/UHD suppor

Its most amazing feature it can edit large files easily whereas other text editors get crashed. More importantly it is available on multiple platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux. You can download UltraEdit from the given link: https://www.ultraedit.com.

5. Atom Text Editor

Atom text editor is an open source editor full of themes customise approachable, yet hackable. User can search for and install new packages or start creating their own-all from within the editor.

Some of its attractive features are:

  • smart auto completion
  • easy file browsing system
  • Multiple panes to compare and edit across the files.

You can download Atom text editor from the given link: https://atom.io.

6. Coderunner 2

Coderunner 2 edit and run code in any programming language with a single click. It is really not that simple to write and test code. A running script, work with algorithms or simply experiment with new coding or scripting make its way more difficult. But code runner 2 eases them with its cool features.

It is the new version of code runner and named code runner version 2.3. It supports the touch bar in Macbook Pro. It also have improved state restoration. You can download CodeRunner 2 from the given link: https://coderunnerapp.com.

7. BBEdit

BBEdit is the leading professional HTML and text editor for Mac. It caters to the needs of web authors and software developers. It is full of high-performance features like

  • intelligent interface
  • greb patter matching
  • search and replace across multiple files
  • projects definition tools
  • functions navigation and syntax colouring, and FTP and SFTP
  • Open and save, apple script and of course a set of robust HTML markup tools.

These features make it more elegant and versatile to use. You can download BBEdit from the given link: https://www.barebones.com.

8. Text Wrangler

Text wrangler is the lightweight version of BBEdit. It is not a hardcore programming tool and editor which is wildly preferred by most of the developer but it is more useful for people who need general editing. Thus, it has similar features like BBEdit.

It shares similarities with note pad so far as its functionalities are concerned. Text wrangler is a must try and must have editor with basic functions of editing and manipulating text. You can download TextWrangler from the given link: https://www.barebones.com.

9. Sublime text editor

Sublime text editor for MAC is extremely powerful with best and impressive features. It is simple, looks clean and easy to use. It is one of those rare text editors which support prose equally as codes and markup. It possesses many shortcuts through which this software can be operated and also it comes with fastest search engine.

What makes it more unique is its powerful plug-in name API, which is customised according to the needs of user. You can download Sublime text editor from the given link: https://www.sublimetext.com.

Notepad For Mac

10. Coda 2

Coda 2 is a versatile editor which can be only used for website development. Unlike other text editor which can also be use for basic editing, it is a hardcore tool which can only be used by developer to develop their websites.

Html Text Editor For Mac

FTP clients, web preview of engine and excess to command line terminal are some of its basic features. Other features, which are no less interesting, are:

  • Code folding
  • Advanced UI
  • Source code which is manageable with Git or SVN.

It is easy to use interface tool which is helpful for web editing. You can download CODA2 from the given link: https://panic.com.

There are many other text editors apart from the above text editors but for more ease these are some top 10 Free and Best Text Editor for Mac OS. These text editors are versatile and powerful to use for Mac OS. They can be use for web designing, programming and other general purposes. You can try these text editors and if you find many more text editors then let us know and comment below.

Download Text Editor For Mac

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