UltraEdit Text Editor Features

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++, and a multitude of other coding/programming languages. UltraEdit can handle and edit files in excess of 4 gigabytes. An industry award winning application, UltraEdit includes a free trial period so users may try the fully functional application before buying a license.

This page contains a list of all features in the application. Related features are grouped into different categories - simply click on a category to jump to those features.

Some features may link to a related Power Tip, which provides a tutorial for using the feature.

Key text editing features

Code Folding
Supports 64-bit file handling (standard) on all 32-bit Windows platforms
Unicode support
Disk based text editing and large file handling - supports files in excess of 4GB, minimum RAM used even for multi-megabyte files
Mulitline find and replace dialogs for all searches (Find, Replace, Find in Files, Replace in Files)
100,000 word spell checker, with foreign languages support (American English, British English, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish and Swedish)
Syntax highlighting - configurable, pre-configured for C/C++, VB, HTML, Java, and Perl, with special options for FORTRAN and LaTex. Multiple wordfiles available for download
FTP client built in to give access to FTP servers with multiple account settings and automatic logon and save. (32-Bit Only) Includes support for SFTP (SSH2)
SSH/Telnet window
Project/workspace support
TaskMatch^TM Environment Selector - Provides predefined or user-created editing "environments" that remember the state of all of UltraEdit's dockable windows, toolbars and more for user convenience.
Integrated scripting language to automate tasks
Configurable keyboard mapping
Column/block mode editing
Hexadecimal editor allows editing of any binary file, shows binary and ASCII view
Named templates
HTML toolbar preconfigured for popular HTML functions
WebSearch Toolbar: highlight text and click a websearch toolbar button to search for highlighted term from within the editor
- Google search
- Yahoo search
- Wikipedia
- Dictionary.com
- Thesaurus.com
- Whois
- Network Solutions Whois
- PHP.net search
- cplusplus.com search
- MSDN online search
File encryption / decryption
- Encrypt your sensitive source code files using your own key
- Integrates with UltraSentry to (optionally) securely destroy original, unencrypted file
- Decrypt files in UltraEdit only
Integration with UltraSentry to securely delete UltraEdit temporary files
Multi-byte support with integrated IME support

"...I've used UltraEdit since version 6. It's almost impossible to improve what is already the best, but with every release UltraEdit simply continues to amaze me..."

- Andrea B.

Programmer's features

Code Folding
- Fold any function or structure (C/C++)
- "Collapse All" and "Expand All" folded nodes
- Support for ignore strings and comment strings
Syntax highlighting (user configurable):
- Pre-configured for C/C++, VB, HTML, Java, and Perl
- Special options for FORTRAN and LaTex
- Support for up to 20 languages
- Multiple wordfiles for download
- Support for ASP
- Allows different background colors
- Support to highlight words beginning with a specified sub-string
- Support for syntax highlighting based on file name/extension
- Color sections may be named
- Font styles available
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" command will locate symbol in ctag file of selected item or item under cursor and position it in appropriate file
- *Requires the use of third party CTag EXE for tag file generation (links provided)
Comprehensive macro support, including saving and loading, multiple complex macros with hot keys
Integrated scripting language (based on javascript engine) to automate tasks
Artistic style formatter (visually beautifies source code)
Number convertor (selected number to binary, octal, decimal or hexadecimal)
Auto-correction of keywords based on definitions in wordfile
Character properties popup dialog shows:
- Value of character in decimal/hex and display
- Offset of character from start of file in decimal/hex
Duplicate line
New line/insert line
Auto-completion:
- 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 show these
FTP client built in to give access to FTP servers with multiple account settings and automatic logon and save (32-Bit only). Includes support for SFTP (SSH2).
Regular expression searches - Perl-style, Unix-style, or UltraEdit legacy expressions supported
Automatic highlighting of matching brackets/braces as typing or cursor positioning occurs
- Highlight based on line/column Background
- User configurable match strings
- Includes < and > for HTML
Hexadecimal editor - allows hex editing of any binary file, shows binary and ASCII view
Project/workspace support - allows user to group files and define multiple workspace configurations
Project can use separate wordfile for syntax highlighting
ASCII table - allows viewing and insertion of ASCII characters
Add/Remove line comments to selected lines
Support of line comments up to 5 characters
Configurable tool support (run compiler, run a batch file, etc.) used via command-line interaction
Function list shows functions in active file (with up to 6 function strings per language)
Reformatting of existing code to indent/unindent based on language

Database handling features

Disk based text editing - supports files in excess of 4GB, minimum RAM used even for multi-megabyte files
Insert string at every increment (ideal for formatting database records and inserting hard returns)
Column/block editing - allows insertion/removal of columns of data
Insert/fill columns
Insert line numbers
Sum columns/selection
Convert records to fixed column width or convert to character-delimited

File management features

File tree view (tabbed interface) includes:
- List of files on drive (open selected files, file properties)
- 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 tree view
- Filter for explorer tab
- File find for open files tab
- FTP/SFTP account access in file tree view
- Right click compare from explorer view
Tree view function to change view to drive/path of active file
Open multiple files at once from the file open dialog and command line
"Quick Open" option 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)
Close one or all files
FTP:
- FTP client built in to give access to FTP servers with multiple account settings and automatic logon and save (32-Bit only). Includes support for SFTP (SSH2)
- FTP open
- FTP save zs
- Asynchronous save/open of FTP/SFTP Files
- Date-based synchronization of FTP-linked project folders
- Allows multiple selection of files
- Supports filenames with spaces
- Setting for ASCII / binary / passive transfers
- Specific support for AIX / AS400 / BS2000 / MVS / OS9000 / Stratus VOS / UNIX / VAX/VMS Servers
- SFTP allows public/private key encryption
- SFTP supports PuTTY key format
- Store FTP accounts and settings in a user-definable file
- Ability to link local folder and remote folder and upload/download files between remote server and local system
File revert to saved
Save, Save As, Save All, Save Selection As file
ASCII/binary file compare (saving and or printing of difference summary)
Sort support for up to 4 sort keys with option for alphanumeric or numeric sort
Support for setting code page and locale
- Locale used (optionally) for sort
- Code page used for Unicode conversions
Unix/Mac file conversions (to/from DOS), EBCDIC file conversions (to/from ASCII), OEM conversions (to/from ANSI)
EBCDIC/HEX combined view without conversion
Auto detect Unix, Mac and binary/hex files when loaded
Unicode support on all Win32 platforms
Unicode Big-Endian support for editing
Conversion between Big-Endian and Little-Endian formats
Support for UTF-8 and conversions to/from UTF-8
Support for direct editing of ASCII-escaped Unicode
Support for the new WM_UNICHAR message
Edit Unix/Mac files without any conversion required (^n/^r used in find/replace for lf/cr)
Insert file into an existing document at cursor position
Support for renaming of files
Reload changed files without files becoming active
Option to automatically reload changed files
Delete active file
Insert string at every increment
Favorite files list stores up to 50 files
Functions strings can recognize multiple lines
Recent files submenu stores up to 16 files
Recent projects/workspace submenu stores up to 8 different projects/workspaces
"Send Mail" - sends the active file as an email attachment - (selected programs only)
Minimize all
Support for alternate data streams on NTFS operating systems
Sort file tabs
Right click on file and open
Right click URL and open
Open from Unicode paths via drag-and-drop from Explorer
Configuration options:
- Default file type for new files (DOS, Unix, Mac)
- Show filename only in title (not path)
- Make file that changed and is reloaded the active file
- Delete existing file before saving
- Edit files containing nulls (hex 00) in text mode
- Cache INI file for quicker load/shutdown
- Setting for file compare EXE to use in place of UltraEdit's compare
- Setting to disable left cursor from going to end of previous line

Printing features

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

Text editing features

HTML toolbar preconfigured for popular functions and HTML tags
Customize tags in HTML toolbar or create new tags and buttons
CSS style builder
Multi-level undo and redo
Multiple tab positions
Cut, copy and paste
"Paste special" command: paste RTF and HTML source into UltraEdit directly from browser
Copy-append and cut-append allow the user to copy the selection and append it to clipboard
Clipboard history
Insert/overstrike mode with cursor and status bar indication
Select all, select line, select word, delete, delete line
Delete to end of line or start of line from cursor position
Insert date and time
Hex editing with:
- Hex cut, copy and paste support
- Hex insert and delete of characters
- Hex find, replace and replace all
- Hex mode ruler shows offset
- Hex mode copy function to copy hex view of text to clipboard
100,000 word spell checker, with foreign language support (American English, British English, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish and Swedish)
Spell check while typing
Read only default option and edit menu item
Ability to move current line up or down in file with click of a button
Drag-and-drop editing
Word wrap support
Auto-indent wrapped lines
Automatic word wrap at specified column with hard return
Auto-indentation
Line length of up to 9k allowed
Home key positions at first non-space, then first character
Function to copy active file path/name to clipboard
Triple click selects a line
Clicking a line number in the margin selects a line
Persistent selection

Search and replace features

Find, find next, find previous, replace and replace all
- Find "entry" box/dropdown on toolbar for quick finds
- Allows selection of text between caret and find target when shift key is pressed
- Search and replace will (optionally) step through all open files
- Save favorite search and replace expressions for later use
"List Lines Containing String" opens non-modal find dialog; double-click an entry to jump to the line
Highlight all found occurrences of string
Count number of occurrences of string
Find in files/replace in files support for all open files or project files
Separate threading for Find/replace in files (allows you to continue working while searching files)
Find in files/replace in files option for Unicode searches
Find in files allows ignoring of directories in search and replace
Find in files for any files not containing search string (optional)
Find in files with an empty find string will create listing of all files matching directory/name specification
Find in files search in your "favorite files"
Multiple search paths allowed with find/replace in files
Replace in files (including option to list changed files and number of occurrences)
User customizable format of Search in Files result/output
Regular expression support with tagged expressions for find/replace
Perl-style regular expressions
Unix-style regular expressions
Hex find, replace and replace All
Find matching braces
Goto line number or page
Bookmarks:
- Named bookmarks
- Bookmarks saved (optionally)
- Go to previous bookmark
- Clear all bookmarks
- Bookmark includes column number with line number (optional)
Word count will count only selected text if selection exists (includes line count)
Dockable function list shows all the functions in a file in a list box and supports function searches in all project files
Regular expression support for 0 or more occurrences using ++
Option (default) to automatically find selected text with find next/previous
Commands for going to end of next or previous word
Option (default) for find dialog to use word under cursor
Configurable '^' character for find/replace (via INI setting)
Back/forward functions take you to the previous place you edited, scrolled from, or jumped to a tag from etc. and works across multiple files
Preserve case option to preserve the case of a word when being replaced
Incremental search
Dialogs have full Unicode support

Project/workspace features

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
Capable of having separate wordfile
Project specific user tools (in addition to standard set)
User bitmap icons and project tools for user
User/project tools supports having output go directly to the active document
Group support for projects, allowing files to be grouped together
Project/favorites - add files/add all open files dialog allows multiple file selection
Support for nested groups with no limit on depth
Directories allowed as a group
Directory groups dynamically updated
Direct addition/removal of files from File Tree View
Recursive addition of files/folders

Editor display and customization features

TaskMatch^TM Environment Selector - Provides predefined or user-created editing "environments" that remember the state of all of UltraEdit's dockable windows, toolbars and more for user convenience.
User configurable toolbars - save multiple configurations
User configurable right-click context menu for main edit windows and file tabs
View/hide toolbar and/or status bar
Configurable default edit window size
File tabs to select between open files
file tab color highlighting on a per file extension basis (optional)
Multiple files open and displayed at the same time
View/hide output window
View menu includes option to show page breaks as line across the screen
Ability to hide and unhide selected portions of text
File tree view includes:
- List of files on drive (open selected files, file properties)
- List of open files (close/save/tile/print selected files)
- List of project files (open selected files)
Set display and/or printer fonts independently, or use display font for printing, reset default fonts
View menu items (and toolbar support) to zoom in/out by increasing/decreasing font size
Separate font for hex/column mode
Selectable OEM character set - option for fonts that support it
Color selection for background, normal/selected text, bookmarks, line/column numbers
Color selector allows user to select a color and insert the value into a file
Line numbers based on real lines (not wrapped lines)
Show spaces, tabs and new lines
Column markers to display vertical line at specified columns
Optional fixed non-scrollable area (columns left of the first column marker)
Ruler for column numbers
Viewing with line numbers on left side of window
Dockable ASCII table - with ability to insert directly from table
Codepage conversion support
Status bar line with line/column number display
Popup menus with right mouse button
Dockable "Tag List" allows definition of a set of "tags" that can automatically be inserted into a file. Designed in part for HTML, it allows text to be selected for automatic insertion of tags around the selected text
Dockable named bookmark list - view all your bookmarks and their names
Status bar displays number of bytes selected
Color selection for active line (line with cursor)
Commands to position active line at top, middle or bottom of screen
Color selection for ruler lines and column markers
Dockable "Function List" shows all the functions in a file in a list box
Macro list for quick access (dockable)
Script list for quick access (dockable)
Full screen mode
Auto-recovery of modified files after system/application crash
Option to minimize UltraEdit to system tray

Formatting features

Add line endings to XML files that have little or none
Highly configurable integrated XMLlint tool
Paragraph alignment
- Left, center, right, fill (for fixed pitch fonts)
- Reformat paragraph
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
Conversion of:
- Tabs to spaces
- Spaces to tabs for all tabs, or just leading tabs in a line
- Character-delimited files to fixed-column
- Fixed-column file to character-delimited
Trim trailing spaces
Line space support for single, 1.5 and double spacing
Convert ANSI to OEM, OEM to ANSI
Text conversion to lower or upper case, invert case and capitalization
Automatic line indentation (add, remove)
Insert page break
Tab and word wrap settings based on file extension (optional)

Column/block editing features

Ability to edit text files based on columns (blocks) instead of rows
Ability to run a search and replace on a selected column/block (instead of rows)
Insert/fill columns
Delete/cut columns
Insert sequential numbers (hex/decimal)
Sum columns/selection
Column mode justify (left, right, center) to justify text just in the specified columns
Column mode editing: select columns and type characters to insert

Macro and scripting features

Comprehensive macro support, including saving and loading multiple macros with hot keys
Integrated scripting language, based on javascript, to automate tasks
Scripting engine can write output to output window, providing a way to debug scripts
Integrated scripting includes most powerful javascript functions (loop, case/switch, variables, arrays, etc.)
Macro load and save as support special characters for dynamically setting up file to load or save within macro
Macros can be run when file is loaded and when file is saved
Save all macros to one file
Autoload (and optionally run) macro when UltraEdit starts
Edit a macro following record
Delete macros, or modify hot key assignments
Easy record of macro
Play again/play any macro multiple times
Option for automatic warning on exit if edited macro is unsaved
Rename macros
Ability to conditionally loop a macro
Macro support for "IfFound" and "IfNotFound" to check if a string was found and conditionally execute macro commands
Macro functions for "IfNameIs" and "IfExtIs" to check active filename/extension within macros for conditional statements
Macro support for column mode functions
Macro support for running tools
Support for changing clipboard in a macro
Unix or Perl regular expressions setting can be used in macros
Command line support for executing macros and scripts any number of times

Advanced configurable features

File Logging

Automatically update log files at configurable interval
Files can individually be set to be log files

Named template support (display/modify/insert up to 50 user templates)
Template list view provided for quick access to templates
Run DOS command
Run Windows program
Tools configuration, up to 25 user tools (also project specific user tools)
User tools may have user icons/bitmaps
Default save directory and backup directory may be specified
Timed backup/auto save
Tab settings
Separate indent and tab stop setting
Automatic backup file generated (several options available)
Auto save files as input format option to allow automatic detection, editing and saving of Unix or Mac files
Option to minimize UltraEdit on close of last open file
Configuration for number of hex bytes per line in hex mode
Option for word wrap at absolute column number for viewing data files - (optionally based on file extensions)
Option for UltraEdit to always be on top of all other displayed windows
Option to minimize UltraEdit to the system tray
Many more options available for user to set personal preferences

Window management features

Duplicate window of the same file
Split window option
Tile windows horizontally/vertically
Previous/next window
Close all files
Show output window/output window resizeable while docked
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
View file in default browser
Cascade windows
Arrange icons
File tabs may be resized to show multiple rows while docked
Minimize all
Output window resizeable while docked

Help and support features

CHM-based help files
UltraEdit help index
Using help
Add your own help files
Version/registration information
Quick Start Guide with links to online tutorials for common tasks

Additional features

SSH/Telnet window
Default browser button/menu item to show current file in the default web browser
Integrated IE browser support to show active HTML file
INI file selection using command line - great for multiple configurations
Backup toolbars and other personal customizations
Command line parameter (/a) to allow specifying an already open file without having the prompt to reload it (just position to specified line)
Command line parameter -lx and -cx allowed following each file name to specify line and column in which to position
HTML Tidy support (integrated)
- See http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/
CSE HTML Validator support (integrated)
- Run validation
- Setup validator options and configuration
- Job type support
- Requires CSE HTML Validator from http://www.htmlvalidator.com/
Command line option for line and column positioning
DDE support with full command line options
Context sensitive help
IntelliMouse scrolling support
Drag and drop support from the file manager
UltraEdit retains its screen position each time it is used
Many keyboard shortcuts including - positioning, Next/Previous paragraph etc.
Multi-key mappings (sometimes called chords)
Ability to view and print key mapping from configuration
MSI Installer support
And much more...

Hex editor features

UltraEdit is ideal for hex editing...but what exactly is a hex editor? A hex editor allows you to manipulate binary files, from an exe to a corrupted database, or any other from of non-text file. With UltraEdit, you can see or edit the raw and exact contents of a file as opposed to the interpretation of the same content that other software may associate with the file format. Editing a file in hex mode will allow you to see the underlying character and byte values of a file. If you've ever needed to look at the hex values of the underlying file, toggle into hex mode (CTRL + H) and see... it's that easy. If you've ever needed to patch an EXE or DLL file, but haven't had the source code from which it is compiled, you can edit the binary data of the file in hex mode (so long as you know what you need to change).