Notepad++#

Core features in Notepad++ that are essential for handling AEM log files, XML configurations, and automation scripts.

#1. Column Mode Selection

Press Alt+Shift+↑/↓/←/→ or hold Alt while dragging the mouse to select text rectangularly (Column Mode).

AEM Use Case: Remove redundant log prefixes across multiple lines simultaneously, or extract specific data columns from log files.

[ERROR] 2024-01-15 10:00:01 com.mysite.core...
[ERROR] 2024-01-15 10:00:02 com.mysite.core...
[ERROR] 2024-01-15 10:00:03 com.mysite.core...

Select the prefix block [ERROR] via Alt+Drag → Press Delete to strip prefixes in a single action.

#2. Regular Expression Search & Replace

Press Ctrl+H → Enable Regular expression mode.

AEM Use Case — Remove Blank Lines:

Find:

^\r?\n

Replace: (Leave empty)

AEM Use Case — Update Java Package Names in XML:

Find:

com\.oldsite\.core

Replace:

com.newsite.core

AEM Use Case — Extract Class Names from Stack Traces:

Find:

\tat ([\w\.]+)\(.*\)

Replace:

$1

#3. Mark and Highlight Text

Press Ctrl+M → Highlight selected text with custom colors. Up to 5 distinct style colors can be applied concurrently.

Navigate to Search → Mark All → Enter keyword → Highlight all instances across document.

AEM Use Case: Color-code different log levels and keywords while analyzing error.log:

• Style 1: ERROR
• Style 2: WARN
• Style 3: NullPointerException
• Style 4: Target component name under active investigation

#4. Line Bookmarks

AEM Use Case: Bookmark key log entries within multi-thousand-line error.log files to navigate quickly between relevant trace points.

#5. Folding and Unfolding Code Blocks

AEM Use Case: Collapse individual <node> blocks in large .content.xml files to inspect overall node hierarchy cleanly.

#6. Compare Plugin

Install via Plugins → Plugins Admin → Compare.

Navigate to Plugins → Compare → Compare to inspect two open files side-by-side with highlighted differences.

AEM Use Case:

• Compare dispatcher.any configurations between production and staging environments.
• Diff _rep_policy.xml ACL definitions before and after editing.
• Compare package manifest versions (.content.xml) prior to package deployment.

#7. XML Tools Plugin

Install via Plugins Admin → XML Tools.

AEM Use Case: Copy raw XML from CRXDE → Paste into Notepad++ → Execute Pretty Print to format node structure.

#8. Macro Recording and Execution

1. Navigate to Macro → Start Recording.
2. Perform repetitive text transformation steps.
3. Select Macro → Stop Recording.
4. Press Ctrl+Shift+P to replay once, or select Macro → Run a Macro Multiple Times.

AEM Use Case: Format raw stack traces line-by-line and execute the macro repeatedly to process large log files.

#9. Column Editor

Press Alt+C while in column selection mode to launch the Column Editor.

Insert sequential numbers or static text into the active column across selected lines.

AEM Use Case: Prepend - to multiple lines to convert plain lists into formatted YAML/Markdown syntax.

#10. Converting Line Endings

Navigate to Edit → EOL Conversion:

• Windows (CRLF): \r\n
• Unix (LF): \n
• Macintosh (CR): \r

AEM Use Case: Bash scripts or Dispatcher configuration files created on Windows failing on Linux due to \r carriage returns → Convert to Unix (LF) before uploading.

#11. Character Encoding Conversion

Navigate to Encoding menu to switch between UTF-8, UTF-8-BOM, ANSI, and UTF-16.

AEM Use Case: Ensure i18n .properties files use standard UTF-8 (avoid UTF-8-BOM as AEM property readers fail to parse BOM markers properly).

#12. Workspace Sessions

Navigate to File → Save Session to save currently open files as a .nps session file. Select File → Load Session to restore the designated group of files.

AEM Task Session Examples:

• debug-dispatcher.nps: dispatcher.any, httpd.conf, access_log.
• aem-logs.nps: error.log, request.log, stdout.log.
• package-review.nps: Active .content.xml vault files under review.

#13. Function List Panel

Navigate to View → Function List to display a sidebar listing functions, methods, and definitions.

AEM Use Case: Navigate complex deployment shell scripts or Python automation scripts easily.

#14. Document Map

Navigate to View → Document Map to view a high-level mini-map of the file on the right margin.

AEM Use Case: Navigate large log files spanning multiple megabytes quickly without manual scrolling.

#15. Find in Files

Press Ctrl+Shift+F to search across directories.

Configuration parameters:

• Find what: Search term or regex.
• Filters: *.log, *.xml, *.any, *.conf.
• Directory: Target root directory.

AEM Use Case:

• Search log directories for OutOfMemoryError occurrences.
• Search XML files across vault packages for specific sling:resourceType definitions.
• Locate Include directives across Dispatcher configuration files.

#16. User Defined Language (UDL)

Navigate to Language → User Defined Language → Define your language to construct custom syntax highlighting rules.

AEM Use Case: Import custom UDL rules for Sling log formats (highlight timestamps, log levels, and class names in distinct colors).

#17. Smart Highlighting

Double-click any word to highlight all matching occurrences throughout the document.

AEM Use Case: Double-click a class name within a stack trace to highlight every reference to that class in the active log.

#18. Auto-Completion

Navigate to Settings → Preferences → Auto-Completion:

• Enable word completion per document.
• Enable parameter hints.

AEM Use Case: Autocomplete JCR property names in .content.xml files based on existing document contents.

#19. Word Wrap

Press Alt+H (or navigate to View → Word Wrap) to toggle line wrapping.

AEM Use Case: Long stack trace lines in log files wrap cleanly without horizontal scrolling.

#20. Executing External Commands

Press F5 (Run → Run...) to execute external CLI tools using variables:

AEM Use Case: Create a shortcut to deploy the active XML file directly to CRXDE via curl:

cmd /c curl -u admin:admin -X POST "http://localhost:4502/crx/de/index.jsp" -F "file=@$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)"

#21. Tail Monitoring Mode

Navigate to View → Monitoring (tail -f) to auto-refresh the file as new data is written to disk.

AEM Use Case: Monitor crx-quickstart/logs/error.log in real time within Notepad++ without installing third-party tail utilities on Windows.

#22. Multi-View Split Editor

Navigate to View → Move/Clone Current Document → Move to Other View to split the editor into dual panes.

AEM Use Case: Display error.log on the left pane and .content.xml on the right pane during debugging.