The Nightmare %> Issue

Bjorgen Eatinger

I’ve posted this bug on GitHub, but it hasn’t been fixed. It drives me NUTS.

Whenever a comment is written into the editor for a Classic ASP file, it is taken as a literal end of code literal, as in the following example:

’ 2) Later in the page content:
’
’ <p>
’ We provide professional event production and rental services <%= LocationPhraseServiceArea %>.
’ </p>

To “fix” this, I have to put a space between the % and the >, as in: % >.

It seems like such an easy fix–I really don’t know why this isn’t getting any traction.

DEBUG INFO:

Notepad++ v8.8.7 (64-bit)
Build time: Oct 19 2025 - 16:19:15
Scintilla/Lexilla included: 5.5.7/5.4.5
Boost Regex included: 1_85
Path: C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line: “C:\Program Files\Notepad++\change.log”
Admin mode: ON
Local Conf mode: OFF
Cloud Config: OFF
Periodic Backup: ON
Placeholders: OFF
Scintilla Rendering Mode: SC_TECHNOLOGY_DEFAULT (0)
Multi-instance Mode: monoInst
asNotepad: OFF
File Status Auto-Detection: cdEnabledNew (for current file/tab only)
Dark Mode: ON
Display Info:
primary monitor: 1280x1024, scaling 100%
visible monitors count: 1
installed Display Class adapters:
0000: Description - Microsoft Basic Display Adapter
0000: DriverVersion - 10.0.17763.1
OS Name: Windows Server 2019 Datacenter (64-bit)
OS Version: 1809
OS Build: 17763.7792
Current ANSI codepage: 1252
Plugins:
AutoSave (1.6.1)
mimeTools (3.1)
NppConverter (4.7)
NppExport (0.4)
SQLinFormNpp64 (5.3.35)

PeterJones

@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:

I’ve posted this bug on GitHub, but it hasn’t been fixed. It drives me NUTS.

You mean https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issues/17072, submitted a couple weeks ago? Trust me, there are tons of more important bugs that have languished for years. The fact that yours has been there only a few weeks is nothing in comparison.

Just how much did you pay for Notepad++ that you think it warrants you personal bugfixes guaranteed within N days? Especially since every contributor to Notepad++, including the owner, is an unpaid volunteer, in it only for the love of the app – but that means that when they are able to submit fixes depends on their life and commitments outside N++, and they have to prioritize their contributions accordingly.

It seems like such an easy fix–I really don’t know why this isn’t getting any traction.

It seems to you like an “easy fix”, but have you ever dug into the library that Notepad++ uses for syntax highlighting, or the wrapping that N++ has to put around that library? Very little in that would be what I would classify as “very easy”.

For example, the HTML lexer has to handle not just XML but also ASP and PHP and JavaScript, among other things. The interplay between those is all very complex, and it doesn’t surprise me that some of the edge cases are not fully ironed out.

And I am also not convinced that the bug is in N++ itself, and not in the library that N++ uses: if it’s the latter, someone would have to prove it to that library’s developers, and they would have to fix it before the fix could propagate to N++

As someone who has contributed to N++ somewhat, I can assure you that every time I have taken on a fix, it has been harder than I originally anticipated – my most recent submission, I thought would only take a day or two, but actually took me weeks. Claiming it’s an easy fix, without accompanying that claim with working code, is just proof that the individual is not qualified to asses the difficulty of the issue.

Would it be great if all bugs in Notepad++ could be fixed instantly? Of course. But that’s not the real world.

Coises

@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:

I’ve posted this bug on GitHub

That would be Issue #17072.

It seems like such an easy fix–I really don’t know why this isn’t getting any traction.

Most likely not an easy fix at all, because this highlighting is applied by the lexer for ASP, which is used by Notepad++ but comes from an entirely different project, Lexilla. I’m not familiar with that code at all, but it looks like similar problems have been around for a long time. It might be a case where attempting to fix one problem causes another and re-engineering the entire approach is just not practical.

My (personal) conclusion is that syntax highlighting in Notepad++ (which depends on Scintilla, which depends on Lexilla) will never be perfect, because it does not do a full syntax analysis. If you want full syntax analysis, you need to use an IDE appropriate to the language(s) in use. A general-purpose text editor like Notepad++ can provide enough syntax highlighting to be helpful most of the time, but especially when one language is embedded in another (like VBScript within HTML in ASP files), it just can’t do the job of a purpose-built IDE.

I don’t know if there is an IDE designed for ASP, but if there is, you might be happier with that.

Coises

@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:

I’ve posted this bug on GitHub, but it hasn’t been fixed. It drives me NUTS.

I can tell you that this is almost certainly a Lexilla problem. I know that doesn’t matter to you as an end user; but as a practical matter, it means that reporting it as a Notepad++ issue is unlikely to yield useful results.

If you care enough about this, your first step should be to try to reproduce the same behavior in SciTE. Since Scintilla, Lexilla and SciTE are all related, it will be easier to get the maintainers of those projects to attend to a bug report if the bug can be demonstrated in SciTE.

If the same bug does not occur in SciTE, then it is a Notepad++ issue after all. Failure to reproduce in SciTE would be information you should definitely add to your Notepad++ issue, as it would indicate the problem isn’t what it appears to be.

If the same bug does occur in SciTE, then the place to document the problem is in the Lexilla issues.

Bjorgen Eatinger

@PeterJones Thank you for your reply–very much appreciated. However, I didn’t say that it was an “easy” fix. I clearly said, “SEEMS like an easy fix.” I’m just a mere coder, and don’t know anything about the internal workings of NotePad++, so I appreciate that you spent the time to write me a response. I have a work around and will continue to add that space to every comment I make where the <% %> tags are used.

I got used to using NotePad++ based upon the recommendation of another coder. I used to use Homesite Pro and loved it, but it had memory leak issues. Thank you again!

Bjorgen Eatinger

@PeterJones said in The Nightmare %> Issue:

Just how much did you pay for Notepad++ that you think it warrants you personal bugfixes guaranteed within N days? Especially since every contributor to Notepad++, including the owner, is an unpaid volunteer, in it only for the love of the app – but that means that when they can submit fixes depends on their life and commitments outside N++, and they have to prioritize their contributions accordingly.

With regards to this statement, I wouldn’t mind paying money for NotePad++, but that’s not possible, is it? I appreciate your post, but I think it’s a bit much to be berating me in this manner. Let’s keep things on a professional level please.

Alan Kilborn

@Bjorgen-Eatinger said :

I didn’t say that it was an “easy” fix. I clearly said, “SEEMS like an easy fix.”

Not much of a distinctions between those two things, unless you’ve looked into it (you haven’t).

I think it’s a bit much to be berating me in this manner

A way to avoid this: Don’t say silly things in your post.

donho

@Bjorgen-Eatinger
if I were you, I would try to follow @Coises 's suggestion to determinate the source of bug, and provide the necessary information to help us solve your problem, instead of shouting out loud in the forum.

Let’s keep things on a professional level please.

I wouldn’t say you’re on the professional level with the following sentence:
I’ve posted this bug on GitHub, but it hasn’t been fixed. It drives me NUTS.

If you don’t care about helping us identify the problem, and only come into the forum to complain, why should we help you?

The project has been maintained by volunteers since its creation. As an open-source project, the voice is always given to those who contribute - including people who provide the pertinent information to help. If you don’t know how to gether the information we need, at least be cordial. People here don’t owe you anything.

I hope you understand that.

Bjorgen Eatinger

@donho Thank you very much for your reply. Please let me know what else you would like me to provide to help out. Thank you very much!

rdipardo

@Bjorgen-Eatinger

Already done https://github.com/ScintillaOrg/lexilla/issues/335

Alan Kilborn

@Bjorgen-Eatinger said:

I wouldn’t mind paying money for NotePad++, but that’s not possible, is it?

You can donate if you’d like; see HERE.

Bjorgen Eatinger

@Coises I greatly appreciate your post and kindness. I am not a pro-user by any means. I will take your advice and do my best to report this issue regarding Lexilla on GitHub. I’ll more than likely delete this post here, as the responses were unusual. I’m an older fellow and haven’t been super active other than the work that I do on my own website. I tried to edit the post, but wasn’t allowed to do so. Thank you again!

Terry R

@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:

I’ll more than likely delete this post here, as the responses were unusual.

We prefer users to NOT delete posts, especially if there have been responses. Imagine some months down the track an initial post is deleted leaving all these responses to some “unknown” question.

In fact, us moderators will reinstate a deleted message if there are responses so as to keep that “continuity” of information.

Terry

Bjorgen Eatinger

@Terry-R Okay, yes you are right. Information is key–the more the better! So I did as @Coises suggested, and download and tested SciTE, and found that it works perfectly. It handles the opening and closing brackets gracefully and correctly when they are a part of a comment. In fact, if I don’t use them correctly (e.g., '<% Hello % >), then it lets me know about it–very nice. Therefore, as @Coises suggests this problem must be in NotePad++ itself. I will update my GitHub post accordingly. Thank you all for all of your posts and guidance. Very much appreciated!

PeterJones

@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:

So I did as @Coises suggested, and download and tested SciTE, and found that it works perfectly. It handles the opening and closing brackets gracefully and correctly when they are a part of a comment.

Which is odd, because @rdipardo’s experiment, which was included in the Lexilla issue, proves that SciTE does not handle it correctly.

Can you use the </> button on a post toolbar, and paste in the exact example text that shows Notepad++ not handling it correctly and SciTE is handling it correctly, with screenshots of both?

rdipardo

@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:

Information is key–the more the better!

In that case, please reply to @PeterJones’s most recent post, and also show what options are enabled in the Settings > Preferences > Highlighting submenu.

My initial response to N++ issue #17072 was to assume it was a duplicate of another issue caused by the tag highlighting feature, which will naïvely find “tags” in contexts where there is no HTML markup; e.g.,

This only occurs when the active language is HTML and the Enable option is checked under Settings > Preferences > Highlighting > Highlight matching tags .

PeterJones

For example, I spun up the IIS features on my Win11 machine.

If I use:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<%
Response.Write("Hello World!<hr>")
%>

<%
Response.Write("Run me!")
' Response.Write("Commented out!")
Response.Write("<p>Run me 2!</p>")
%>

<%
LocationPhraseServiceArea = "{This is the value}"
%>
<%
' <p>
' We provide professional event production and rental services <%= LocationPhraseServiceArea %>.
' what goeth here</p>
%>

<p>
We provide professional event production and rental services <%= LocationPhraseServiceArea %>.
what goeth here</p>

</body>
</html>

… which is the best interpretation I can come up with for your “later in the page content:” code snippet, plus some extra to prove that IIS ASP code is working around it, I get:

The Notepad++ highlighting seems to match what’s displayed when I look at what the server shows – that is, the %> at the end does close the ASP wrapper, and it goes back to being raw HTML, which the browser renders.

So you really need to show

exactly what code you have.
If my “use the </> button” explanation doesn’t make sense to you, then use
```
```
paste your ASP code here
```
```
for example,
```
```
<%    
Response.Write("Hello World!<hr>")
%>
```
```
a screenshot of the highlighting in Notepad++ being “wrong”
a screenshot of the highlighting in SciTE (and which version of SciTE you are using) being “right”

It needs to be identical code in both Notepad++ and SciTE, so that we’re comparing apples to apples.

Bjorgen Eatinger

@PeterJones Sorry for the late reply. This issue only occurs in a case like this:

’ <% Sub ApplyPasswordReset(oConnGlobal, postData, ByRef result). %>

There is a comment (apostrophe) in front of that line of code.

The editor is not honoring the fact that this line of code is a COMMENT ONLY.

Every line of actual code after this line is now treated as text only (not ASP code).

Until you put a SPACE between the “%” and the “>”, as in the following:

’ <% Sub ApplyPasswordReset(oConnGlobal, postData, ByRef Result). % >

That’s it. Again, sorry for the late reply.

PeterJones

@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:

This issue only occurs in a case like this:

Sadly, you did not give nearly enough for us to be able to investigate your problem any further. I put in exactly that line (and only that line) into bjorgen.asp on my local IIS, and when I go to that page, it gives me a server error:

… And I confirmed that other pages, like the one I showed above, are still working on my local server.

From what I understand, the ' as a comment is VBSCRIPT syntax, not ASP-specific syntax. Because I thought everything outside of <% ... %> was just interpreted as ASP (and my quick web searches seem to confirm that conclusion on my part). In which case, putting the ' before a <% ... %> line is not “commenting out” anything, it’s just putting a single-quote in the static HTML portion of the code. Moreover, you aren’t supposed to nest <% ... %> inside each other, as far as my searches tell me. So your single line is really confusing… because if it’s outside of a containing <% ... %>, then I don’t see why you think that the ' is commenting anything. And if it’s inside a containing <% ... %>, I don’t see why you have another <% ... %> nested inside. This is why a complete example is needed for us to be able to see what you mean. It doesn’t have to be huge – my example document from earlier (with the . ' what goeth here in the rendering) is only about a dozen lines.

And per the Microsoft documentation linked in the Lexilla issue,

<% i = i +1 'This statement increments i. (This script will work.) %>

… is valid / complete syntax: the ' comment only comments out the text portion – the %> closer tag does not get hidden by the comment inside the <% ... %>.

Taking that line, and putting it into zufuliu.asp with a few other lines,

Text before
<% i = i +1 'This statement increments i. (This script will work.) %>
text after
<br>i = <%= i %>

… to actually render something in the webpage, I see:

And Notepad++ is highlighting that as expected: the i = i + 1 is code, the 'This statement increments i. (This script will work.) is a comment, and the %> still closes the code, and everything after still runs.

Moreover, if I use a ' to “comment out” the <% ... %> line, it doesn’t actually make that code not run. It just interprets the ' as part of the HTML, not as part of the VBSCRIPT.

So your single line of ' <% Sub ApplyPasswordReset(oConnGlobal, postData, ByRef result). %> does nothing to show us where the bug might be, or what’s going wrong.

To be able to prove whether there’s a bug in Lexilla, a bug in Notepad++, or just user error, you need to give a complete known-good ASP code that shows the problem, that we can open with IIS to see that the code works as expected (ie, to show it’s valid ASP that you are trying to edit), that we can open with Notepad++ to see that it highlights “wrong”, and opens with SciTE to show that it highlights “right” or “wrong” depending on what you say (the last time, I believe I understood you to say that it was rendering right in SciTE),

If you want help, you need to give all the information from the 3 simple steps I put in my last post and reiterated here. Please understand, I am not saying this to be mean: the Lexilla people do not believe there is a bug in their library (the issue has been closed as PEBKAC). Nothing you have shown us gives evidence of a bug in Notepad++. If you don’t provide exactly what I described above, your report will be diagnosed to be user error, and nothing will ever happen.

At this point, it’s your decision as to what happens next.