Support for various features in gedit

Question

I'm trying to use gedit as my main editor, and am looking for help with some tricky features. For each of the following, can people help me out with how to install and configure the feature?

• code folding
• pylint support
• splitview support
• spell check
• whitespace deletion
• regex-powered find and replace
• any other features I should know about?

Tags: Plugins, IDE

Answer 1

• Code Folding

  The plugin throws an error on the command line when you try to fold. But it may be something a good Python programmer could fix in five minutes.

  Apparently code folding is slated to be supported by gedit natively eventually.

• Pylint

  The one reference to a plugin I found pointed to a bzr branch that no longer exists.

• Splitview

  I don't use it much, but it does a good enough job for me.

• Spell Check

  The plugin should be enabled by default. Use Tools > Autocheck Spelling to turn it on.

• Whitespace Removal

  Removes unnecessary whitespace on saving a file.

• Regex Search and Replace:

  Extract to your plugins directory, enable, and use Tools > Regex Search & Replace.

• Others:

  The gedit-plugins package comes with some handy plugins. You should check that out.

Answer 2

Geany has all of the features you want except inbuilt pylint support (although there is inbuilt syntax checking and you could run pylint using the integrated terminal). Split view and spell checking are available through plugins (packages: geany-plugin*). Geany is lightweight and simple to use - perfect if you are looking for something more advanced than gedit but don't want/need the complexities of a full-blown IDE.

I would suggest installing geany and the extra plugins.
Via the terminal with sudo apt-get install geany
Or install using the Software Center:

Answer 3

See http://live.gnome.org/Gedit/Plugins

You install them by downloading the plugin's files and copying them to ~/.gnome2/gedit/plugins.

Answer 4

Geany with plugins installed from http://getdeb.net or its ppa repository is fantastic text editor.

Answer 5

Even though gedit is good for basic file editing I wouldn't use for more than I would use notepad.exe on Windows. You might want to use a IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Depending a bit on what code you write these might be worth a lookover:

• NetBeans
  • Java
  • PHP
  • C/C++
  • Python
• Eclipse
  • Java
  • PHP
  • C/C++
  • Python
• Cream
  • Seems to be a cross of gedit and notepad++ but I haven't used it.
• Editra
  • Much like Cream. (not really an IDE)
• VIM
  • Designed as a cli tool, got GUI extension but lacks a bit in usability if you don't read the manual!
  • A lot of languages!
• GNU emacs
  • Designed as a cli tool, got GUI extension but lacks a bit in usability if you don't read the manual!
  • A lot of languages!

Bout VIM and Emacs are a bit hard to learn to use, VIM in my opinion being the simpler one.

Answer 6

• Pylint (kinda)

I use a python checker that is part of the gedit-developer-plugins package in the repos. It doesn't seen to use pylint, but it does a nice work checking syntax and style. It's called GDP Format in the plugin lists, not a very descriptive name.

Answer 7

I've been searching for a decent TextMate clone for Linux and finally I managed to pimp my gEdit and abandoned all the other IDEs (NetBeans, Komodo... you name it):

This is the way to do it:

sudo apt-get install gedit gedit-plugins
cd ~/Downloads
git clone http://github.com/gmate/gmate.git
cd gmate
sh ./install.sh

Next time you launch your gEdit you'll be surprised how powerful it is. Don't forget to check the plugins as well to beef up the editor even more.