Notepad++ - Selecting Text to End of Line

[foggy]

Hi,

I don't know if this is the proper forum. I did want to post this question at the NPP forum, but I don't have any of the accounts required for registering (Github, Facebook, etc.), so I thought I'd ask here. If no one has an answer, no big deal.

Anyway, I don't use NPP for coding. Mainly for writing. I like the simplicity of a plain text editor for that. But all other editors I've used (including Word 2007 and other word processors) allow me to select text to the end of a "line" by using "shift + end." But NPP works differently. That's why I put "line" in quotes. NPP treats a line like a paragraph, as if it were one, long, unwrapped line of text/code rather than as a single run of text that ends at the right-hand margin. Placing the cursor within a paragraph and hitting "Shift + End" will select the entire remainder of the paragraph.

This behavior, apparently, explains why NPP also displays the column numbers as it does. (A 'column' appearing just a few characters in from the left-hand margin toward the end of a paragraph might be column number 753 instead of column 6.)

In any case, I'd like to know if it's possible to use NPP the way I would normally use other editors, i.e. by using "shift + end" (or some other keyboard shortcut I haven't been able to find in NPP or the NPP wiki) to select text extending to the right-hand margin only, not fully to the end of a paragraph.

Thanks for any input!

 

[gini]

Interesting question! I've used NPP for a long time, but for selecting text I simply highlight with the mouse. The margins you see vary with the size of the NPP window in use, and, afaik, there's no way to set them with the text editor, so maybe that's why a keyboard shortcut isn't possible.

 

[foggy]

Interesting question! I've used NPP for a long time, but for selecting text I simply highlight with the mouse. The margins you see vary with the size of the NPP window in use, and, afaik, there's no way to set them with the text editor, so maybe that's why a keyboard shortcut isn't possible.

Thanks for your reply, gini. For myself, I find it a lot easier simply to use the keyboard shortcut for such text selecting (if I'm doing so as I'm typing away on a document). So "shift + end/home" or "ctrl + shift + end/home" come very naturally for me. And I understand what you say about the margins, but that's something pretty much common to all text editors & word processors of which I'm aware when you have word wrap on. But all the other editors I've used (e.g. Word, WriteMonkey, Metapad, Notepad, Wordpad, etc.) work the same way: "shift + end" will only select the text on the line on which the blinking cursor is located and will only extend as far as the right margin, however wide the margin may be. That's what makes NPP so odd. It's the first editor I've used that thinks the "end" is the end of the paragraph. IOW it's selecting all text up to the next line-break or paragraph and not what we would think of as a normal "line" of text. Strange. I can live with it if I have to, since I do like NPP's other features. But I would like to figure a way to get it to work like all the other editors in this regard if I can. Anyway, thanks again for your comment.

 

[pbcopter]

What version NotePad++ are you using?

I have version 8.8.8 and when I press Shift + End, it selects text to the end of the line.

Have a look at this though.

keyboard shortcuts - Notepad++: select text till the end of visual line with SHIFT+END - Super User

 

[DavidE]

I think i understand what foggy is asking about.
The difference i see is if Word Wrap is enabled, it might select text differently than other programs.

NPP always selects everything including the wrapped text, no matter what the "Word Wrap" setting is.
Some other editors do not select the "wrapped text lines", and only select text to the end of the "displayed text line".

It's not an issue for me because i do the same as gini in post #2

but for selecting text I simply highlight with the mouse

I would like to see NPP have a Print Preview, but i never found that feature.

 

[Callender]

I use EMEditor instead of Notepad++ but I can say that for any text editor that i have used:

Single Click: Inserts cursor
Another Single Click: Highlights one word
Double Click: Highlights line
Triple Click: Highlights paragraph (for some not all text editors)

Also depends upon correct punctuation

 

[DavidE]

I use EMEditor instead of Notepad++ but I can say that for any text editor that i have used:

Single Click: Inserts cursor
Another Single Click: Highlights one word
Double Click: Highlights line
Triple Click: Highlights paragraph (for some not all text editors)

Also depends upon correct punctuation

Thanks for the EMEditor tip !
I see they have a portable version, so i'll have to give it a try.


I still use an old unsupported text editor (CEDT), but i like it and it works for me.

 

[foggy]

What version NotePad++ are you using?

I have version 8.8.8 and when I press Shift + End, it selects text to the end of the line.

Have a look at this though.

keyboard shortcuts - Notepad++: select text till the end of visual line with SHIFT+END - Super User

BINGO! Thanks for that link, pbcopter!! It was exactly what I was looking for. (For whatever reason I never came across that page in my internet search on the subject.)

All is good.

 

[foggy]

Thanks also to DavidE and Callender for your comments.

Yes, David, you understood my concern. Fortunately, pbcopter's link did the trick.

Callender, for NPP a double-click selects the word and a triple-click selects the whole paragraph. Nothing click-wise selects only the displayed line. But things are back to normal for me now anyway, so I can't complain.

Thanks again for all your input. Problem solved.

 

[Callender]

Thanks for the EMEditor tip !
I see they have a portable version, so i'll have to give it a try.


I still use an old unsupported text editor (CEDT), but i like it and it works for me.

The thing about EMEditor (free version) is that it opens/ edits huge text files in an instant.

If I use Notepad to open my Hosts file it takes forever so that was the main reason I switched.

​

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There is a way of forcing any application like the above to open files using EMEditor instead of Notepad.

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If you create a new key named notepad.exe here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

Then create a new String Value in the right pane, name it Debugger, then enter the following:

​

EMEditor will launch instead of Notepad any time that Notepad tries to run.

The same method can be used to replace Notepad with other text editors, Just add the path to the executable.