Which free editor is best for VHDL/Verilog?

[vipinlal]

I am currently using Modelsim for editing and testing code. But I feel the code editor is very bad.

What editor do you use?

 

[TrickyDicky]

I use a lot of notepad++ with finger text and nppexec plugins. Works for me

 

[primozb]

I use Eclipse with veditor plugin (https://sourceforge.net/projects/veditor/)

 

[dpaul]

I will always vote for Notepad++

 

[FlyingDutch]

I am also prefering Notepad++

Regards

 

[std_match]

Notepad++ is very good for any text file editing. The biggest problem is that there is no linux version.

 

[vipinlal]

Thanks for the answers. I have installed and will try out notepad++. On first try, it seems much more awesome than the default editor.

 

[std_match]

The file tabs above the editing window are not very good in Notepad++ when you have many files open, but you can activate a much better file list to the left of the editing window by going to Settings->Preferences and checking both tick boxes in "Document List Panel".

 

[vipinlal]

Is there a way to let the notepad++ editor open inside modelsim as a docked window? Right now a new window opens up and I prefer the codes open inside modelsim as the default editor does.

 

[dpaul]

It is not so straightforward.

How to configure my favorite editor in ModelSim?

I want to set up my favorite editor in ModelSim. The default behavior is that ModelSim uses its own internal editor, which I don't like. I've Googled and I've searched the ModelSim User Manual. I

electronics.stackexchange.com

I prefer opening my RTLfiles from the directory itself with NP++

 

[TrickyDicky]

Is there a way to let the notepad++ editor open inside modelsim as a docked window? Right now a new window opens up and I prefer the codes open inside modelsim as the default editor does.

I usually just keep everything open in notepad and use a console or nppexec (a console for notepad++) to run my simulations. If I needed to be interactive I run from the modelsim console.

 

[niciki]

I have been using notepad++ for years for "quick" edits, but since I have tried VSCode - that was the sad day when I started to use npp less.
Today VSCode is my one and only "quick" editor with VHDL/Verilog, C/C++, Python and ASM extensions.
VHDL/Verilog VSCode extension is getting better and better with every new release.

But today, my everyday "long term" free editor for VHDL/Verilog is still Eclipse with VEditor plugin.

 

[MarkPh]

Notepad ++ is a very good editor. NP++ has been my favorite editor for years.
I use Visual Studio Code more and more and today that is my favorite editor. VSCode is getting better very fast and there are a lot of plugins.
One reason I start using VSCode is that I use Instant-SoC to generate VHDL from C++ and that is run from VSCode.

 

[vipinlal]

@MarkPh and @niciki thanks for the suggestion. what plugin are you using for vhdl/verilog for VScode. I see a lot of plugins available, wondering which one I should select.

 

[MarkPh]

@MarkPh and @niciki thanks for the suggestion. what plugin are you using for vhdl/verilog for VScode. I see a lot of plugins available, wondering which one I should select.

I use VHDL LS for VHDL. I don't do much verilog
Instant SoC uses C++ and then I use C/C++ plugin.
If you find any better let me know

 

[niciki]

Check out this extension:
TerosHDL

 

[vGoodtimes]

for me, marker-based code-folding is a requirement for a vhdl/verilog editor. I think this is just vim, emacs, and vscode (plugin) for the free editors. It sounds like notepad++ had this before 2010, but now it's only in languages like C# that have a #region feature.

 

[niciki]

Regarding Notepad++, there is a nice SourceCookfier plugin that parses files to match predefined RegEx (Regular expression).
Over time I have prepared a set of RegExes to parse VHDL files. The effect is below. I could prepare a blog entry about this - please let me know.