jEdit: a Text Editor
and More
Getting started with this extensible GUI text editor.
ADRIAN KLAVER
jEdit is a cross-platform text editor
written in Java. The current stable version at time of this writing is 4. 3. 2,
and it’s available at jedit.org. Besides
the cross-platform capabilities, jEdit
offers other features, such as a
sophisticated plugin system, syntax
highlighting for 130 languages, a
built-in macro language and extensive
encoding support. I wrote this article
using jEdit, and I demonstrate some of
its features here, especially some of
the plugins I have found useful.
Before I start, jEdit is a GUI text editor
of some heft. It is not a replacement
for using vi on the command line to
edit a configuration file on a remote
server. It does serve well in handling
many files simultaneously with visual
feedback and with the benefits of a GUI
interface. To put it another way, I use
vi or jEdit depending on the need.
Installation is fairly easy; just go
to the download page and grab the
installer jar. Be sure to check out the
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compatibility link if you have a non-Sun
(Oracle) or Apple version of Java. From
personal experience, I have not had
success running jEdit on gcj. Assuming
you have a compatible version of Java,
use the following to install:
This launches an installer program
that guides you through the process.
For the sake of reference, jEdit keeps
its configuration files, on Linux anyway,
in ~/.jedit/. I mention this because I
keep that directory synced between my
laptop and my desktop machines. As
a result, I have a consistent working
environment between the two.
At its heart, jEdit is a just a text editor,
although it’s a text editor with a lot of
options. You can make these options
global or apply them on a per-buffer
basis. You can reach the options via the
Utilities menu item. The global options
stick between editing sessions, but the
