How to multi-line "Replace in files..." in Notepad++

Question

If the free source code editor Notepad++ has the feature "Find in files...", that is without the files being opened in the editor, does it not also have the feature "Replace in files..."?

Notepad++ is based on the editing component Scintilla - for which at SourceForge there is a response to a request for this feature: "No need for this to be included in SciTE as you can add this command to the Tools menu using the Parameters dialog." So can a mult-line replace in files feature be added easily to Notepad++?

Answer 1

The question at one point asked what would I have liked to see more in Notepad++. Here's my short list/

1. Each and every menu item should have a keyboard shortcut no matter how weird that combinition is. Right now half of the menu items don't.

2. Doesn't support international charecters. It accepts the text but shows '????' in place of the letters.

3. Jump to matching parenthesis like Ctrl-] in visual studio.

Answer 2

Have you considered asking about Notepad++ features here? http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=331754

Answer 3

This is a subjective opinion, but I think a text editor shouldn't do everything and the kitchen sink. I prefer lightweight flexible and powerful (in their specialized fields) editors. Although being mostly a Windows user, I like the Unix philosophy of having lot of specialized tools that you can pipe together (like the UnxUtils) rather than a monster doing everything, but not necessarily as you would like it!

Find in files is on the border of these extra features, but useful when you can double-click on a found line to open the file at the right line. Note that initially, in SciTE it was just a Tools call to grep or equivalent!
FTP is very close to off topic, although it can be seen as an extended open/save dialog.
Replace in files is too much IMO: it is dangerous (you can mess lot of files at once) if you have no preview, etc. I would rather use a specialized tool I chose, perhaps among those in Multi line search and replace tool.

To answer the question, looking at N++, I see a Run menu where you can launch any tool, with assignment of a name and shortcut key. I see also Plugins > NppExec, which seems able to launch stuff like sed (not tried it).