<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Excel formula sintax highlighting]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p dir="auto">Hi there!<br />
Is there a sintax for Excel formulas?</p>
]]></description><link>https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/16186/excel-formula-sintax-highlighting</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2026 18:37:32 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/16186.rss" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><pubDate>Mon, 20 Aug 2018 07:03:53 GMT</pubDate><ttl>60</ttl><item><title><![CDATA[Reply to Excel formula sintax highlighting on Mon, 20 Aug 2018 13:31:20 GMT]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p dir="auto"><a class="plugin-mentions-user plugin-mentions-a" href="/user/terry-r" aria-label="Profile: Terry-R">@<bdi>Terry-R</bdi></a>, yes and no.  Yes, doing <strong>SaveAs</strong> <strong>CSV</strong> from inside Excel will save the CSV with the values.  But if you hand-craft a CSV file like</p>
<pre><code>"=5+6","=1+cos(.1)"
</code></pre>
<p dir="auto">and open it in Excel, Excel will recognize and treat those as formulas when you open the CSV.</p>
<p dir="auto">And there are ways to grab the formulas out of Excel and paste them into Notepad++, so it’s not unreasonable to want to be able to do syntax highlighting.</p>
<p dir="auto"><a class="plugin-mentions-user plugin-mentions-a" href="/user/%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%81-%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BD" aria-label="Profile: Денис-Ревин">@<bdi>Денис-Ревин</bdi></a> ,  <s>Unfortunately, I do not know of an Excel-forumla syntax highlighter available for download.  If you wanted to spend the effort, you could use Notepad++'s <strong>Language &gt; Define your language…</strong> to bring up the UDL (User Defined Language) dialog, and set up your own keywords, styles, etc.</s></p>
<p dir="auto">Oh, I guess I was wrong.  A quick search showed that the <a href="http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php/User_Defined_Language_Files" rel="nofollow ugc">NPP Wiki’s UDL Files page</a> has a link to <a href="http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/commun/userDefinedLang/xlf_udl.zip" rel="nofollow ugc">xlf_udl.zip</a> as described <a href="http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2010/09/29/formula-editor-in-notepad/" rel="nofollow ugc">at “Daily Dose of Excel”</a></p>
<p dir="auto">If you unzip that, then you can use <strong>Language &gt; Define your language… &gt; Import …</strong> to import the XML from that zipfile.  Then, when you have Excel formulas in a given Notepad++ editor, you can select <strong>Language &gt; XLF</strong> (where the “XLF” will be below the “Define your language…” option; if you don’t see it, you may have to exit Notepad++ and re-run it; I had to when I imported the XLF UDL).  Once you manually select that Language (or if you save the file as <code>.xlf</code>, then it should automatically apply that Language when the file is opened).</p>
<p dir="auto">Hmm… I think they actually did it the hard way.  They listed every function individually as the opening string for a “Folding in code 1 style”, with the “)” to close any of them.  But that means that the individual functions aren’t syntax highlighted, which seems to defeat the purpose to me.</p>
<p dir="auto">I tried the experiment of cutting out all of those from the “open” tab (and temporarily pasting them in a blank NPP window); I then replaced the “Folding in code 1 style: <strong>Open:</strong>” with  just the open parenthesis “(”.  Then, in the NPP window, I deleted all the “(”, then copied all the function keywords into the <strong>UDL &gt; Keywords Lists &gt; 1st group</strong>, and applied a style.  I think that would work better for you.</p>
<p dir="auto">Anyway, good luck.</p>
]]></description><link>https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/34214</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/34214</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PeterJones]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 20 Aug 2018 13:31:20 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Reply to Excel formula sintax highlighting on Mon, 20 Aug 2018 07:40:35 GMT]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p dir="auto">You might need to expand on detail.</p>
<p dir="auto">If you mean, does Notepad++ work with Excel files, then no.<br />
Although it can work with CSV files which Excel can also use, but CSV files cannot contain Excel formulae. Notepad++ works with text type files, not binary type files.</p>
<p dir="auto">Alternatively, if you mean can Notepad++ use excel formulas, then again no, it uses “regular expressions”.<br />
Terry</p>
]]></description><link>https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/34207</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/34207</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Terry R]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 20 Aug 2018 07:40:35 GMT</pubDate></item></channel></rss>