Bluefish vs jEdit

Bluefish is a free, open-source desktop editor for programmers and web developers. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and supports more than 30 markup and programming languages. The editor is designed for websites, scripts, and programming code, with project support for working across multiple projects while restoring each project’s settings. Bluefish can load and save remote files through FTP, SFTP, HTTP, HTTPS, WebDAV, and CIFS via gvfs. Editing tools include regular-expression search and replace, snippets, unlimited undo and redo, crash recovery for modified documents, code folding, bracket and tag highlighting, autocompletion, and automatic tag closing for many languages. It can open more than 1,000 documents, with the features page reporting tests above 10,000 simultaneously. External programs and custom scripts can be integrated. The official Flatpak’s strict security blocks some system-tool and browser integrations.

jEdit is a Java-based text editor for programming, with packages for Linux, macOS, and Windows and supported-platform listings that also name VMS and OS/2. Version 5.7.0 provides syntax highlighting for 233 languages and file types. Editing tools include auto indent, bracket matching, code folding, word wrap, multi-cursor and column editing, and unlimited undo and redo. Search handles literal or regular-expression queries across open files or a directory. Users can adjust keyboard shortcuts, toolbars, and context menus, and automate work with BeanShell macros. Its Plugin Manager installs, updates, and removes extensions; listed options include FTP, SVN, XML, XSLT, and project management tools. Plugins can add compiler, code-completion, debugging, visual-diff, and language-specific capabilities. jEdit is free software with full source code under GPL 2.0. Version 5.6 and later requires Java 11 or later, and the maker notes that installing many plugins can slow startup. Help is available through mailing lists, web message boards, and bug trackers.