Uncle Roger's Notebooks of Daily Life

Notepad on Steroids

For a long time, I've been using (and sharing) a freeware program called Programmer's File Editor. If you have ever used Notepad (the little text editor that comes with Windows) you need this program.

Very simply, PFE is a text editor. That's different from a word processor (such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect) in that it does no formatting, layout, or other beautifying tasks. You can't change the fonts, make text justified, insert images or tables, it doesn't do mail merge, and there's no spell checker. It's not intended to be used for writing letters, novels, or anything that will be printed as a finished document.

What it is intended for is editing source code, bits of data, notes, snippets of text to be cut-and-pasted. Unlike a word processor, PFE saves nothing but what you put into it. If you open a new file, type the letter "A", and save it, that file have only one byte in it -- that letter A. A word processor will save your letter A, along with information about the font you used, the size and color of your A, your name and company info, the date and time you typed the A, and potentially a whole host of other bits of info.

That's all stuff that's very important if you want your A to be a 48pt, Mint-Green, Italic, Centered, Treefrog A the next time you open your file. It's also stuff that will cause nightmares for whoever you call when your "A" web page is full of garbage or your mailing list suddenly goes wacko. That's why you need a word processor and PFE.

What do I do with PFE? I use it constantly. I edit web pages with it. I use it to cut-and-paste commands that I might want to use more than once. I copy lists of files into PFE and then modify them into commands to save having to type the same command over and over again (and possibly making mistakes). I use it to modify and massage data for testing. I make notes about what I'm working on and what I've done so that I can revisit it in the future if I'm not sure what I did or if I want to do it again. I use it constantly.

And what makes PFE better than, say, Notepad? Features, I say, features! Features like the macros, configuration sets, and mode groups. These are powerful tools that make PFE my choice for an editor. Add to that the fact that it's free (and I'm cheap) and you've got a true winner.

Macros let you record what you do and then do it again as many times as you want. If, for example, you had a list of names in Last-Name-comma-First-Name order and wanted them as simply First-Name-space-Last-Name, you could record your keystrokes as change the first one, then have PFE automatically repeat the change for each of the other names. I use this feature dozens of times each day.

Configuration Sets are different setups for PFE. They let you define the home directory, a list of favorite files, different editing options, and a separate list of Most Recently Used Files. I have configuration sets for journal entries (with the appropriate default directory set), for general webwork, for programming, for business notes, and even one for miscellaneous garbage so that I can use PFE to view files like server logs without cluttering up my other MRUF lists.

Mode groups allow you to define your editing configuration differently for different types of files. I have one mode group for HTML files which uses spaces when I hit the tab key, auto-indents new lines to match the line above, and so on. My set up for .LST files (lists of things) has the tab key generate actual tab characters while not auto-indenting new lines. I have other setups for text files and PERL code. Whenever I open a file, it sets things up the way I like it for that type of file -- much like modern cars can remember how you like your seat, mirrors, and radio set. If a file doesn't fall into one of the specific types of files, there's a mode group to use as a default. There's another setup for new, empty files as well.

As if all that wasn't enough, installing PFE is simply a matter of putting the executable somewhere and running it. You can run it off a floppy (The program is just over 600K), a USB Flash Drive, CD, or just about anywhere else you can think of. There are no DLL's to clutter up your hard drive. The configuration sets are stored in the Windows Registry, but only if you use them.

Given the power that PFE has to offer and its ridiculously low price, this is definitely a program that everyone should have.

Most of all, a hearty thanks goes to Alan Philips of the Lancaster University Computer Centre for sharing PFE with us.