@Training-Surat Thank God for Periodic Backup, right? Regular Expressions are an art as much as a science, but having said that, I’m aware of ways that Notepad++ does it less than ideally. But I agree that what it does, for the price, is absolutely awesome!

@V-S-Rawat Half-jokingly, I say, “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!” There have been discussions here where a user says, “I wish Notepad++ did [something] like [some program].” Then it gets implemented, and lots of other users complain because it doesn’t work like it used to. :)

I understand what you’re saying, and sometimes it frustrates me too that I need to remember what line I started on. However, there are other times where I want to search for or replace a repeated part, and after I’ve been through the file once, there are still more instances that are repeated more than once, so that feature can come in handy. Here are some tips (used together or individually) to overcome this difference in functionality:

Use the count feature to count the number of occurrences before actually finding the text. Set a bookmark (Ctrl-F2) before searching, then return to the bookmark after search (F2). Go to the top of the file, use the Search/Replace box, and un-check the Wrap around checkbox

There are probably more ways to manage this, but those are the ones I use when I absolutely have to get back to where I started when I’m finished.

@Claudia-Frank @guy038 @Scott-Sumner

Perfect.

Only problem is Im a c++/javascript guy and not a python guy…

I like snakes too!

Im actually after a binary representation of a file…Im working with lots of sensor cells so it might just be that it would be simple to write that in js. I was just trying to avoid having to write more code :(

In that case we could always debate js vs Python because the last time I had a code argument was perl vs php. Its funny, all these languages get closer and closer to each other and eventually well end up with malloc statements and vectors and the std library :)

Thanks for the replies and I think I need to write the tool to view the data in a browser so I might as well just write that first because its going to be handy to have.

Unless there s a HxD (which is excellent btw) :)

Cheers
Tom

Is there any news on this? This is also important for us. I tried the approach in https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/12927/unattended-installation-auto-update-disabled/2 but it isn’t working reliable for us. An installation switch would be a much better solution for us to. I would really appreciate this feature.

[1] Suggested Workaround approach for ramromail:
Do not use “whole words” options for coding scenarios.
It seems that the “whole word” definition is too simplistic for your needs. Use regex instead, where you will be able to define separators to you convenience.

[2] Suggestions for npp coders (Wish list):
[2.1] When the user picks “whole word”, show “advanced options” for the user to define their own word delimiters.
[2.2] Or add a config section for word delimiters among the preferences?

HTH
Marcelo

try editpad lite and see how loads in there.

A quick & dirty workaround for point 2 might be to set a hot key to launch Find in Files instead of normal Find, then put the required “locked” filename into Filters box and it’s folder into Folder box.
Then each time you press the hotkey it will remember the last filter/folder… just enter your search term and click “Find All”. You will however have to click on the desired line in the “Find Results” window to switch to the “locked” file, but there after you can F3 or Ctrl-F as usual. (I actually use Find in Files as much as Find).

An alternative for point 1. might be to write your more complex macros in LuaScript or Python Script (both available in Plugin manager).
I don’t believe these have recording ability, but they do offer very powerful ways to automate almost anything in npp far above what you can do with the built in macros.
There are other scripting plugins as well such as C# but I have not used these.

Point 2 is actually an ideal example of something that could be implemented quickly in Python Script:
One script to choose which file to “lock for finding” (or just type this in the Python console)…
globals()[“mnFixedFindFilename”] = notepad.getCurrentFilename()

and the main script (bound to a hotkey of your choice):
notepad.activateFile(mnFixedFindFilename)
notepad.runMenuCommand(“Search”, “Find…”)

Trivial to modify above to hardcode the filename or even support multiple hotkeys pointing to different files!

@Martin:
A workaround I sometimes use that may help is to access the the “often changing files” over the network… npp only sees changes to files made locally!

@David:
I think the issue is that the “The file has been modified by another program” dialog pops up even if the modified file in question is not the active npp document - this certainly bugs the hell out of me :)

Typical scenario for me is having a log file and source file (that I am editing) open in npp…

I save my changes to the source in npp (so the source is my current active npp doc) Switch (Alt-tab) to another app to test the changes Switch back to npp… and BAM modal dialog “The file has been modified” and the log file is now the active doc - so I have to click OK and Ctrl-Tab back to source (which should have remained the active document).

I only want to be notified that the log file has been “modified by another program” when the log file is the active npp document (or next time I switch to the log file in npp).

I don’t use “Update silently” since it means the “Find results” links to lines in the silently updated files can get de-synced and point to the wrong place without any clue that the file is updated.

“Update silently” also does not really help in cases where I have edited the log file in npp (so the dialog again steals focus).

My suggestion:
I’m not sure a “per file follow” setting would be useful to me (and in fact care would be needed to manage which docs you were following and which not).

I think a 3rd “File Status Auto-Detection” preference would help:
☒ Enable
☒ Notify only when document is active
☒ Silent (notify only if document has been edited in npp)

Other related enhancements could be a visual indication that the file has been silently updated (perhaps ^ instead of the * you get for docs with unsaved changes). Similarly a per-line indication in the “Find results” windows for lines in the silently updated file.