You open a data export and see one long smear of text. Fields run together, and you can't tell a tab from a space or a stray line break from a real record break. Textplorer is a small Windows text editor built for that problem. It colors the fields of structured text files so you can see where each one starts and ends.
Quick facts
- Version: 1.27
- Platform: Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000 and XP, per the vendor's stated requirements
- License: freeware
- Installer size: about 192 kB
Key features
See each field of a structured file in its own color
Textplorer's headline feature is data field coloring. You can color delimited files, such as ones that use semicolons between fields and newlines between records. You can also search in fields and sum them.
Read code with syntax coloring you can change
Built-in syntax coloring covers C, C++, Pascal, HTML, INI, JS, LaTeX, Java and PHP. You can also define your own.
Open files from other systems without garbled characters
Textplorer detects the character set automatically: ANSI, OEM, EBCDIC and MAC. You can also define your own character code translation table. It detects CR and CR+LF line endings automatically.
Inspect binary and hidden characters
The editor can show HEX codes for characters that can't be displayed, and it handles binary data. You can search and replace binary characters, and copy and paste binary data between Textplorer windows, including 0x00.
Open large files quickly
The vendor describes it as a fast and compact editor, with fast loading of large files. It also offers a command line option to reload automatically when a file changes.
Who it's for
It suits you if you regularly open delimited exports, log files or mainframe-style data, and you want to see the structure without importing the file into a spreadsheet. It also suits you if you want a light replacement for Notepad that can show every byte.
Pros and cons
- Pro: field coloring for both fixed-length and variable-length data.
- Pro: small download and freeware licensing.
- Pro: wide character set support.
- Con: the structured-data setup isn't obvious, and you'll need to experiment with the examples.
- Con: it's a Windows-only program with a dated feature set.
FAQs
Is Textplorer free?
Yes, it's offered as freeware.
Can it handle CSV files?
It can be set up to work with delimited files, so CSV is possible with some configuration.
Does it work with EBCDIC files?
Yes. EBCDIC is one of the character sets it detects automatically.
Can I define my own syntax coloring?
Yes, you can define your own alongside the built-in languages.
System requirements
The vendor lists Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000 and XP.