Microsoft Windows’ copy/paste mechanism for text uses NUL text strings. You can get around this in Notepad++ using Edit / Paste Special / ... There are three sub-options that support NUL:

Copy Binary Content Cut Binary Content Paste Binary Content

@Code-with-Pritam ,

Notepad++ is a text editor. You type your C++ code in there, and the syntax highlighting in Notepad++ will make it easier to visually parse the code you are typing. Then you use an external compiler to compile your source code, then you run the executable. In a bog-standard approach, all Notepad++ is used for is typing.

If you have a plugin like the NppExec plugin, you can help automate some of the steps. For example, I have written a script for NppExec plugin that I call gcc-CompileAndRun, which saves the active file, runs gcc on that file to create an executable with the same name, then runs the executable in the NppExec console window:

NPP_SAVE cd "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)" gcc -o "$(NAME_PART)" "$(FILE_NAME)" $(NAME_PART)

(This script only works on a self-contained, single-file c program. if you used g++ instead of gcc, it would work on a self-contained, single-file c++ program. You could have a similar script which runs your own copy of make – or similar, as appropriate to what C++ compiler and build system you have: the Notepad++ source code, when you are building it with mingw-based g++, uses mingw32-make; strawberryperl comes with a mingw-based gcc/g++ compiler setup, uses gmake (which might be just a rebranded mingw32-make, but I’m not sure); and I know I’ve heard that some c++ setups on Windows can use CMake – but, anyway, if you have a makefile with your project, you could easily do a similar NppExec script that would run the right flavor of make with an appropriate target, rather than directly compiling one c/c++ file and running its executable.

(Personally, I stick with NppExec for the single-file programs, but for anything more complex, I’m more likely to just do the code editing in Notepad++ and then go to a Windows command-line-prompt to run makefiles and the like. And for C++ apps built with the VisualStudio ecosystem, I have given in and started to use that full IDE environment, because debugging is more convenient that way.)

This forum actually has a FAQ entry on how to Compile using an external compiler from Notepad++, which reiterates some of what I told you above, and also has a bit more on the specifics of the NppExec plugin.

This forum is not really the best resource for learning C++, because C++ is just one of the 90+ languages that Notepad++ knows how to syntax highlight, and this forum is focused on the Notepad++ aspects, not on the specific coding language you want to use or programming tasks you want to accomplish. There are tons of websites out there dedicated to helping you learn C++; and there are other forums (like stackexchange) that are better suited to getting answers to coding questions, so you’ll get better answers to coding questions someplace like that than you will here.

So, if you have specific questions about the use of Notepad++ and its plugins that the FAQ and my brief introduction to using NppExec for compiling C++ code didn’t cover, feel free to ask, because questions specific to Notpead++ is the reason this Forum exists and most of the regulars come to answer questions.

@GuFengEn0d ,

Where can I find shortcut keys for special characters?

Do you mean: “how do I type those characters in my file?” You use your keyboard. If your keyboard doesn’t have those, you would enter the characters the same way you would in any text eidtor or normal typing application on your computer.

Do you mean: “how do I use those characters for keyboard shortcuts?” You use Settings > Shortcut Mapper, double click on the command whose shortcut you want to change, and pick the “special character” from the drop-down list – note that a character on its own cannot be a shortcut; you need to use a modifier (like Ctrl or Alt) along with it. Please note:
- In v8.7.6 or newer, the keys specific to your keyboard should be listed in the Shortcut Mapper’s character pulldown
- In v8.7.5-and-earlier, the mapper only shows the US-EN keys, and you might need to read this FAQ for how to map ~ [ ] ; ' \ / <> and Num . (numeric keypad .) to what keys they actually are on your keyboard: it gives some example mappings for a handfull of keyboards, and shows you a website where you cand

Do you mean: “how do i search through the Shortcut Mapper to see whether those keys are used in any existing shortcuts?” Use the Filter: ____ field on each page of the Shorcut Mapper.

See the User Manual’s Shortcut Mapper section for more.

I have also ‘stumbled’ upon that behavior when working on Compare plugins.

@Coises said in Two buffer-activated notifications instead of just one:

The best way I have found to work around it is to try to write NPPN_BUFFERACTIVATED processing such that doing it repeatedly on a file that hasn’t changed does nothing, and does it quickly. That usually means tracking changes with SCN_MODIFIED and keeping a map that associates Scintilla document IDs, Notepad++ buffer IDs, and status information. It’s ugly.

@Coises , I would just add that back in the time when I analyzed that behavior I noticed that NPPN_BUFFERACTIVATED is send for the same file that hasn’t changed also when it is changed outside Notepad++ and it is reloaded in the editor. I actually currently use that to detect that the current file is changed outside and reloaded in Notepad++ to refresh the compare.

I agree with what Alan wrote:

@Alan-Kilborn said in Two buffer-activated notifications instead of just one:

But if the user is using e.g. a plugin that does a not-insignificant operation on buff-activated, and that operation is time-related to the size of the file, and the currently-active tab in the inactive view is absolutely huge and the above happens, the user can notice.

I would also add that it is not only the plugins processing of NPPN_BUFFERACTIVATED involved here but unfortunately also some Notepad++ internal functions.
For example let’s suppose we have opened two files in the first (main) view and one file in the second (sub) view. Now let’s assume one of the files in the first view is small and loads quickly and the second file is large xml for example and it is the currently active file in the view. Now if we switch to the second view and activate the Notepad++'s function list and then click on the small file’s tab in the first view then it seems the large file is first ‘activated’ in the view and the function list seems to be processing it before immediately switching to the small file. And that delay is noticeable by the user in that case even though plugins are not involved

@Anderson-Silva ,

Nope. I haven’t used a notepad-style app on Android in years (and the one that I used to use now gets horrible reviews, so I won’t be naming/recommending it, in case it’s as bad as they say).

Somebody might be able to get you a quick recommendation if they have one, but this isn’t really the best place for discussing the pros and cons of specific Android apps: searching the internet for “best android notepad app” and then visiting reputable app-review sites to find reasonable (non-SEO) results is probably your best bet.

@Leszek-Helak ,

Notepad++ does not natively allow adding new buttons to the Toolbar, without using a plugin.

The Customize Toolbar plugin will allow you to do this.

Use Plugins > Plugins Admin to install Customize Toolbar (and restart Notepad++) Use Plugins > Customize Toolbar > Custom Button to enable the custom button feature Edit %AppData%\Notepad++\plugins\Config\CustomizeToolbar.btn to add the following two linesMacro,Trim Trailing Space and Save,,,*S:Tr,*S:Tr View,Show Symbol,Show All Characters,,*S:¶,*S:¶ The first line is the way to add the macro. Just use your exact macro name instead of Trim Trailing Space and Save. The second line is to overcome a bug in the plugin (the plugin isn’t actively maintained, and it started adding extra spaces when Notepad++ improved the behavior of the [¶] “Show All Characters” button) Note: a drawback to this is that it gets rid of Notepad++'s native icon for the action, which also includes a visible pulldown button to indicate there are options on the Toolbar:
8c8abfc4-6bc2-41b4-8763-b5d46818c6ae-image.png
To get the same pulldown when using the CustomizeToolbar, you have to right-click on the new icon:
814c3d29-6130-4e4c-b780-6716775164bc-image.png If you don’t like the colorful-text-as-icon provided by the Customize Toolbar for the Show All Characters, then you could follow my instructions in this reply in the bug report, which gives some example icons and shows you how to use those icons.
Similarly, if you made a .BMP file and two .ICO files for your macro, and put them in the same directory, you could use the similar method for specifying the images for the macro’s icon. An example, based on the instructions in the bug report:Macro,Trim Trailing Space and Save,,,Icons\myMacro.bmp,Icons\myMacro_light.ico,Icons\myMacro_dark.ico View,Show Symbol,Show All Characters,,Icons\allChars.bmp,Icons\allChars_off.ico,Icons\allChars_off_dark.ico

For those who want to update their back-up configuration files with this setting: in config.xml, look for GUIConfig name="ScintillaPrimaryView" and add the entry lineCopyCutWithoutSelection="no".

@Alan-Kilborn I had to re-add ‘.*’ to the middle section, but I got it working now and can use variables the way I want now, thanks!!

@Alan-Kilborn

Given his level of participation here, I’d have to guess that Don doesn’t care.

Sorry for not being able to spend more time here, and thank you (and others) to be here for helping people. I do care the proper functioning of the forum though.

By “non-Notepad++ solutions”, I thought it was kind of spam disguised as a solution.
Even if someone provides a brief reply such as “Notepad++ doesn’t have the feature you want, try VS Code/Sublime Text/UltraEdit/vi/emacs/…etc”, I think it’s tolerable. The most important thing is that users come here to find a solution, and he/she has got one - be it python, batch, run menu or not run menu, whatever - even if it’s not within Notepad++.

@guy038
Thank you for pinging me.

As @donho created this forum, it seems to me that Don is the only person which has authority to tell us what we should speak of or not in our forum !

The community/forum is not about any specific individual, but about people.
If I used my privilege to silence others by imposing my will, instead of following the rules, I would be the only one left in this place.

Regarding the rules about this tangential discussion, I find Peter’s point to be very fair:
https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/26783/fork-tangential-discussion-about-what-advice-is-on-topic/5?_=1745252343263

Not trying to enlighten anyone, just sharing my 2 cents as part of community.

@PeterJones yes. thanks a lot

@Mark-Olson

Thanks, I used that info while fixing: x64 Release binary for testing

@xomx

I’ll leave Windows updates on (for now) and see if the N++ situation recurs.

@Amit ,
Do keep doing your videos, though @Amit . I think it’s very helpful the way you tackle only one aspect at a time to show & tell about a subject relating to Notepad++.

In the fork, @mathlete2 informed me:

While there may well be a ready-made solution somewhere within those search results, the post that contains the solution is not identifiable at a glance…

Sorry, I had intended my link to make things reasonably easy, though requiring a little effort of reading some pre-existing posts. If this had been Stack Exchange, I would have been expected to just “close as duplicate”, since the question is already answered somewhere else, but I think that’s harsh; but maybe my expecting someone to search the forum is also too harsh. (I guess even SE’s close-as-duplicate link to the original; it’s apparently time for me to stop just giving people the keywords to search for and instead just finding the exact post myself.)

is not identifiable at a glance.

I thought that the post that the preview shows as “Let’s call the script MailMerge.py” would be easily noticed by looking through those results… but I guess not.

9ffaa2ae-482b-4d13-9c78-6c3c8b46a508-image.png

So here is the post I was intending for @Claudio-Raphael or anyone else to find – it presents a fully-working PythonScript solution; for those who don’t know how to make use of a solution using the PythonScript plugin, this FAQ explains the steps needed.

Sometimes these scripts for the PythonScript plugin get multiple versions, depending on customizations that people request; I don’t remember whether MailMerge has been customized one or more times in other of the search results; so if the one I linked to is not exactly the solution desired, checking out some of the other posts in that search might find alternate versions of the script which will work better in your circumstances.

TL;DR

The MailMerge.py script is here – sorry for any confusion.

There was just a spammer who actually posted reasonable advice for a workaround:
“A workaround is to run multiple instances using the -multiInst option. Create a shortcut with notepad++.exe -multiInst to open files in the current desktop.”

(the original post had a random word converted into a link to some spammy website that had nothing to do with the question or Notepad++, hence the original poster – now banned for spamming – is not going to get credit for the solution.)

It doesn’t solve the underlying problem, but -multiInst does seem a reasonable workaround for someone who finds themselves in a multi-desktop environment. But I don’t know that it would solve Explorer > Double-Click or Explorer > Open With Notepad++ – I don’t know whether, if there’s an open Notepad++ in the current desktop, whether that instance will get preference over another Desktop’s instance, or whether the OpenWithNotepad++ will just always go to the first instance, regardless of one being open on the active desktop.

it might be something to experiment with, until such time as a solution is implemented.

@ca-bo I think you’re looking for the Fill Find Field with Selected Text option in the Searching section of the Preferences window:

d23b471a-24fd-4d7b-a75c-49f48a209e5f-image.png

@Manu-el These icons look good, but they’re too small. Any chance of 32x32 icons instead?