Monday, November 19, 2012

Suggested Software: Notepad++ and 7-Zip

Notepad++ has long been my go to text editor.  In fact, I have a copy of the software on a flash* drive along with several other programs that I install first thing when I get my hands on a new computer that I will be using for more than a few minutes.  If you ask nicely in the comments, I might publish the rest of the list here.
Here is the link to the official Notepad++ web site.

Use Notepad++ to Break Up a Block of Text with Line Breaks
Or, How to Put Email Addresses that are Separated with a Semicolon Onto Their Own Lines

  • Click on Search
  • Click Replace (or just press Ctrl + H)
  • find the Search Mode options
  • Select Extended (\n, \r, \t, \0, \x...)
  • Type \r into the Replace With field
  • Type a semicolon into the Replace What field and viola!
Thanks goes to Viper this comment on the Alex Blog for coming up with this solution.

Use Notepadd++ to add text to the beginning or end of a line

The following technique is useful for adding text to the beginning or end of each line in a document that contains a large amount of text:


  • CTRL-H to open the Find/Replace Dialog. 
  • Check "Regular expressions" radio box near the bottom of the dialog.
  • To add "md " to the beginning of each line, type "^" in the "Find what" field, and "md " in the "Replace with" field. Then click "Replace All".
  • Use "$" in the "Find what" field instead to get the text added to the end of the line instead.
Notepad++ Can Capitalize the First Letter of Each Word


  • Hit Ctrl + F to bring up the Find and Replace Command
  • Enter the following in the Find box ^(.)
  • Enter the following in the Replace box \u\1

7-Zip

Recently, I was asked by a co-worker for a way to unzip a folder which refused to decompress for her using the tool that is built into Windows.  My go to application for unzipping, untaring, etc. is 7-zip, which can be downloaded here.

If you do not know if you should download the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of the application and you are using a Windows based computer, open the Control Panel and find the System application.  In Windows 7+ this information will be displayed to the right of the "System type:" field.  I know that computers running Windows XP do not list this information in the System application.  If you are trying to install software on a computer running Windows XP, it's a fairly safe bet that you should go with the 32-bit version because aside from one wise acre who did so just to upset general rules of thumbs, if a computer is running Windows XP it's a 32-bit machine.

*Or, thumb, jump, USB, or whatever one is supposed to call those little portable hard drives that you can plug into a USB port, which are basically worthless in the age of cloud computing but I still have sentimental attachment to because they were cool (in my eyes at least) at one time.

4 comments:

  1. This sounds like a great idea to me man, I'd be tempted to give this a go definitely.

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  2. I should use Notepad++. I recommend 7zip for everyone.. sometimes I install it on their computers without them knowing.

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  3. I still hoard usb sticks and thumb drives. The clouds will dissipate and leave us with true physical storage devices that will not go *poof* into thin air.

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    Replies
    1. You've made me feel better about my affinity for these things. Thank you.

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