Multi-editing and column-mode are buggy in Notepad++?

Question

It will probably be better if I tell you how to see for yourself what I mean rather than try describe it verbally.

Take an example like this:

this is an example line bluh
this is a different example line blarg

And paste it into both a Notepad++ window, and then into this in-browser editor for comparison. [That link is just to a random lesson on Codecademy; Ignore whatever's already in there; I'm just using Codecademy because it's an easy way to share an example of this feature working the way it should in an editor.]

(In both editors ctrl-click can be used to start a multi-edit, and alt-click-drag can be used to start column-mode.)

In column-mode/multi-edit in both editors, try using:

• right/left arrows
• ctrl-right/ctrl-left
• ctrl-shift-right/ctrl-shift-left
• home/end
• shift-home/shift-end

You'll quickly see what I mean about Notepad++ not working the way it "should".

Does anyone know of a way to fix this? Some sort of plug-in or something?

[Incidentally, you may also notice that in the Codecademy editor, ctrl-[shift-]-right/left follows a simple, straight-forward rule of jumping ahead to the next/last /\b/, whereas in NP++ it has a more complex, confusing behavior of jumping over /\s+?/ too under some conditions that have to do with whether or not shift is held down and which direction you're going in.]

Answer 1

Have you tried out Sublime Text 2? It has great support for column mode, multi-editing, and more, and everything is completely customizable via text-based (JSON) config files, so for example if you don't like the keyboard shortcut for some action you can just change it. There's also a great community around it, with a ton of plugins and language extensions to do just about anything you want.

I've been using ST2 for many months now, and I absolutely love it. The lack of a graphical configuration interface is a bit odd at first, but it's extremely powerful once you get used to it. ST2 can be downloaded and used indefinitely for free, although you'll get bugged to register every once in a while. I very quickly purchased a license for it, because it was definitely worth supporting the author.