Meet CudaText: A Cross-Platform Open Source Code Editor

CudaText is a cross-platform open source code editor based on Lazarus. It has extensive support for most of the popular programming languages.

I cannot call it one of the best open source code editors because it is too early for that. I cannot even call it Notepad++ alternative for Linux because it’s more like a lightweight IDE like Geany. Though the default interface reminds me of Eclipse IDE.

Personally, I have my own preferred editor, Atom. But I never shy to try out new applications. If you have the same approach, perhaps you could give CudaText a try.

Let’s see what does CudaText have to offer us.

CudaText features

CudaText code editor
Default interface

  • Syntax highlight for several languages such as C, C++, Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, PHP, Python, XML etc
  • Code folding
  • Code tree structure
  • Multi-carets
  • Multi-selections
  • Find/Replace with regex support
  • Tabbed user interface
  • Split tab
  • Split view for up to 6 files
  • Simple auto-completion
  • Command palette
  • Minimap
  • Micromap
  • Can show unprinted whitespace
  • Many encodings support
  • Hotkey customization
  • Theme support
  • Smart autocompletion for HTML, CSS
  • HTML tags completion with Tab-key
  • HTML color codes (#rgb, #rrggbb) underline
  • View pictures (jpeg/png/gif/bmp/ico)
  • Binary file editing support

The capabilities of CudaText can be enhanced by installing additional plugins written in Python. Some of the main improvements you can get via plugins are:

  • Add-ons manager
  • Snippets
  • External tools
  • Macro manager
  • Session manager
  • Spell checker
  • Brackets highlight, go to pair bracket
  • Highlight all occurrences
  • Color picker
  • Insert date/time
  • HTML/ CSS/ JS/ XML/ SQL formatter
  • Tabs list in sidebar
  • Menu configurator

Dark themed CudaText editor
Dark theme

Split view in CudaText
Split view

Images are from CudaText website.

Installing CudaText editor in Linux

You can find the binaries and the tarball from SourceForge link below:

Download CudaText for Linux

Alternatively, you can visit their GitHub repository and grab the source code there:

CudaText on GitHub

CudaText uses Mozilla license. If you are wondering about it, you can read this comprehensive article on open source licenses.

Give CudaText a try and see if it has got what it takes to be your favorite code editor. And do share your thoughts on it in the comment section below.

About the author
Abhishek Prakash

Abhishek Prakash

Created It's FOSS 11 years ago to share my Linux adventures. Have a Master's degree in Engineering and years of IT industry experience. Huge fan of Agatha Christie detective mysteries 🕵️‍♂️

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