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TextWrangler for Mac

Free general purpose text editor.

Free
In English
4.7
Based on 108 user rates

TextWrangler overview

Note from the developers site: "We are sunsetting TextWrangler, and we encourage anyone interested in TextWrangler to download and use BBEdit instead."

TextWrangler is the powerful general purpose text editor, and Unix and server administrator's tool. Oh, and also, like the best things in life, it's free. TextWrangler is the "little brother" to BBEdit, a leading professional HTML and text editor.

Features
  • General-purpose text editor
  • Programmer's text editor
  • Unix and server administrator's tool
  • Powerful text transformer and manipulator
  • Good Mac OS citizen
  • Powerfully useful tool
  • Product developed in the best traditions of Bare Bones Software, with high performance, ease of use, a rich feature set, and the ability to read its own release notes

What’s new in version 5.5.2

Version 5.5.2:
Additions:
  • On the "Text Display" submenu of the View menu, there are three new commands: "Zoom In", "Zoom Out", and "Actual Size". Use these to change the magnification of the text in editing views. For convenience you can assign keyboard equivalents to these commands in the "Menus & Shortcuts" preferences.
Changes:
  • The "List Display Font" setting in the Appearance preferences has been replaced with a slider to set the font size. Lists in the application all use the system font. Most will use the specified size, except in specific cases where circumstance requires the use of a fixed font size.
  • Added Command-K and Command-R as keyboard equivalents for "Check Syntax" and "Run", respectively.
  • Differences that have been applied are now crossed out in the Differences window list, in order to avoid janky font italicizing effects on some OS versions.
  • When using "Check Syntax" or "Run" on an unsaved or untitled document, the application will now write out a temporary copy of the document. In the case of untitled documents, the temporary copy will be in the system-designated temporary items location, which is arbitrary but generally not anywhere near $HOME.
Fixes:
  • Fixed a case in which changes made by a documentDidSave attachment script would trigger a subsequent warning about the document having unsaved changes.
  • Fixed a pair of bugs that conspired to prevent scratchpad documents (the Scratchpad and Unix Worksheet) from correctly remembering and restoring their state across open/close cycles.
  • Fixed a crash which would occur when changing a language-specific color scheme setting to "Application Defaults".
  • The "BBEdit Light" and "BBEdit Classic" color schemes no longer include explicit highlight colors, thus allowing the system highlight color selection to apply.
  • Fixed bug in which the color used for highlighting selected items in lists wouldn't always track changes to the highlight color setting in the General system preferences.
  • Fixed a crash which would occur on OS X 10.12 when opening the Preferences window more than once during a run of the application. (This addresses Radar 27293621.)
  • Fixed bug in which using up-arrow and down-arrow while in the Open File by Name window's search box would change the selection in the results list, without bringing it into view.
  • Worked around OS behavior on 10.11 in which the search box in the Open File by Name window would lose keyboard focus and not get it back when it should have.
  • Fixed bug in which changing the "Document navigation" setting in the Appearance preferences didn't take effect until you created a new window or restarted the application.
  • Fixed bug in which the file info panel for remote documents (opened via built-in FTP/SFTP or a third-party file transfer client) would show file information for the backing cache file, rather than hiding the Info and Permissions tabs as was intended.
  • The "Copy Path" commands on the Edit menu now behave reasonably for documents opened from remote sources via the built-in FTP/SFTP support as well as by external file-transfer clients.
  • Fixed a bug in which a -37 error would be reported when trying to save a new document with a name containing certain characters.
  • Fixed bug in which keywords matched by the "Keyword Pattern" in a codeless language module were colored as comments rather than as keywords.
  • Fixed bug in which "Open Counterpart" and the Counterparts menu didn't find eligible files in the absence of data from the Open File by Name cache.
  • Fixed bug in which filenames whose extensions ended with a decimal digit would not match a custom language mapping for that extension.
  • Made a change to resolve an SSL connection failure when attempting "Check for Updates" on macOS Sierra.
  • Fixed a layout goof in the Keyboard preferences on pre-10.11 OS versions.
  • Fixed a bug in progress reporting in which the progress dialog would occasionally be blank, except for the progress bar and Cancel button.
  • Added additional diagnostic logging to help diagnose cases in which Unix tool execution fails unexpectedly.
  • TeX comments no longer interfere with Balance operations.
  • When using the "Check Syntax" or "Run" commands for a supported language, the command path in the #! line is now honored in preference to the language module's built-in command. Any specific arguments for debugging (e.g. -d for Perl) may be added as needed, and if so will be added after any arguments specified on the #! line.
  • Updated the list of Perl keywords, and split Perl predefined functions into a separate list so that they're colored as predefined names, and not as language keywords.
  • When using the "Check Syntax" or "Run" commands for a supported language, the command path in the #! line is now honored in preference to the language module's built-in command. Any specific arguments for debugging (e.g. -d for Perl) may be added as needed, and if so will be added after any arguments specified on the #! line.
  • Fixed cosmetic bug in which items in the recently used search strings popup (in the Find and Multi-File Search windows) had backslashes escaped.
  • Fixed bug in which the general-purpose "Unix Script Output" log would be nested one folder deeper in ~/Library/Logs/BBEdit/ than it should have been.
  • Fixed a crash which would occur when using a property specifier as the source for a scripted multi-file search/replace operation.
  • Text output from Unix scripts and filters is now normalized, so that any carriage return (ASCII 13) characters are converted to the internal representation, rather than appearing as gremlins.
  • Fixed drawing glitch which would occur when showing or hiding the Navigation Bar.
  • Script execution from the "Run" command now displays progress in situations where it didn't before.
  • When looking for installed Unix tools, the application will now enforce the restriction that any binary executables actually contain code that is runnable on the current CPU architecture. This fixes problems on systems that have obsolete PowerPC code installed in paths used by the application to find executables.
  • Removed vestigial entry from the results alert for the "Install Command-Line Tools" operation.
  • Fixed bug in which Markdown syntax coloring would become inconsistent during certain edits in text that was not part of a list or quoted block.
  • Fixed incorrect coloring of Markdown inline code while typing an unterminated code run at the end of a document.
  • Fixed drawing glitch which would occur in the list header of disk browser windows when resizing the sidebar required a text layout change.
  • Added support for the "squished heredoc" syntax introduced in Ruby 2.3.
  • Removed the factory default keyboard equivalent for "Print All", because it's a little too close to the factory default equivalent for "Previous Document".
  • Made a change to improve behavior when receiving text dragged from applications which only provide byte-swapped UTF-16 (I'm looking at *you*, Messages.app).
  • Fixed drawing glitches which would occur when resizing the sidebar in Differences windows.
  • Fixed bug in which the size of the differences list in Differences windows was not maintained correctly when reshaping the window (and sometimes it would disappear altogether).
  • When creating a new document from stationery, and the stationery file has a name extension that maps to a known language, the new document's language will be set to that language. For example, a new document created from a stationery file named "foo.tex" will have a language of TeX, and a document created from a stationery file named "bar.mm" will have a language of Objective-C++.
  • Fixed bug in which the application would crash while opening the Multi-File Search window in cases where a previously selected text document had had its backing file deleted.
  • "Remove Line Breaks" no longer causes a visible "jump" to the beginning of the document in the view being processed.
  • Fixed bug in which using the Text Options popover would destabilize the application.
  • The Terminal command file generated by "Run in Terminal" now contains logic to delete itself as well as the temporary copy created when running an unsaved document (if applicable) after execution is complete.
  • Fixed bug in which literal string matching ("is", "is not") in file filters was case sensitive.
  • Made changes to improve usability with SFTP servers that implement obsolete versions of the protocol (in particular, CoreFTP on Windows).
  • Fixed a crash which would occur when spawning shell subtasks on macOS 10.12.
  • If a Differences window has exactly one unsaved document displayed and focus is in the differences list, the "Save" and "Revert" commands will now operate on that document, rather than doing nothing.
  • Fixed various memory leaks.
  • When running on OS X 10.10 or later and "Increase contrast" is turned on in the system Accessibility preferences, text for UI elements in editing windows is now drawn darker, as are dividing lines between some UI elements.
  • Fixed bug in which emacs mode lines which specified unrecognized modes would set a document's language to "None", even when the document's filename extension correctly indicated the language.
  • Made a change to Open File by Name searching so that exact matches for the entered file name are found, even in very large search spaces, rather than being lost due to restrictions on the maximum number of search results.
  • When a document opens in a disk browser or results list window as a result of clicking on an item in the sidebar (or results list, as appropriate), the text view no longer draws as though it has keyboard focus, since it doesn't.
  • When running on macOS 10.12, our additions to the spelling panel are suppressed in order to work around a bug in which the OS lays out the panel incorrectly. (Radar 28263496.)
  • Fixed crashes and other misbehavior which would occur when switching between a color scheme and customized settings.
  • Worked around a bug in macOS 10.12 which would cause strange behavior when switching color schemes or changing individual color settings in the "Text Colors" preferences.
View older TextWrangler versions

TextWrangler for Mac

Free
In English
Version 5.5.2
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4.7

(124 Reviews of TextWrangler)

  • Comments

  • User Ratings

HarryM
HarryM
Mar 19 2021
5.5.2
4.0
Mar 19 2021
4.0
Version: 5.5.2
Still the best editor for older macOS versions out there. Needs a bit to get used to, but once you know it, it transforms you into a text editing master wizard. Love it.
peter24099
peter24099
Dec 18 2018
5.5.2
5.0
Dec 18 2018
5.0
Version: 5.5.2
Too bad this editor was abandoned. It is still my favourite editor for macOS... Will have a look at BBEdit.
Pjot
Pjot
Mar 4 2017
5.5.2
0.0
Mar 4 2017
0.0
Version: 5.5.2
Back Bones will retire TextWrangler but offers a free version of BBEdit instead. See http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
BenjaminW
BenjaminW
Feb 26 2017
5.5.2
5.0
Feb 26 2017
5.0
Version: 5.5.2
Great all round editor.
carthage
carthage
Sep 10 2016
5.5.1
5.0
Sep 10 2016
5.0
Version: 5.5.1
Free s/w doesn't get better than this. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a paid for app better than this, save for BB's own BBEDit. Kudos to the developers for giving so much away for free.
peter24099
peter24099
Dec 18 2018
5.0
Dec 18 2018
5.0
Version: null
hastalavistababy
hastalavistababy
Jan 27 2018
4.5
Jan 27 2018
4.5
Version: null
BenjaminW
BenjaminW
Feb 26 2017
5.0
Feb 26 2017
5.0
Version: null
anonymous-octopus-3320
Feb 5 2017
5.0
Version: null
carthage
carthage
Sep 10 2016
5.0
Sep 10 2016
5.0
Version: null
WetNet
WetNet
Jul 31 2016
5.0
Jul 31 2016
5.0
Version: null
joker55
joker55
Jul 30 2016
5.0
Jul 30 2016
5.0
Version: null
Ollie1972
Ollie1972
Jul 29 2016
3.0
Jul 29 2016
3.0
Version: null
tomasz-clark
tomasz-clark
May 11 2016
4.0
May 11 2016
4.0
Version: null
Staps Fanny
Staps Fanny
Feb 16 2016
5.0
Feb 16 2016
5.0
Version: null
Freenergy
Freenergy
Jan 19 2016
4.5
Jan 19 2016
4.5
Version: null
peters83
peters83
Jan 14 2016
5.0
Jan 14 2016
5.0
Version: null
bill-johnes
bill-johnes
Dec 11 2015
5.0
Dec 11 2015
5.0
Version: null
smyers
smyers
Dec 2 2015
5.0
Dec 2 2015
5.0
Version: null
uce-hole
uce-hole
Nov 22 2015
5.0
Nov 22 2015
5.0
Version: null
Uniquepito
Uniquepito
Sep 30 2015
5.0
Sep 30 2015
5.0
Version: null
B-Jefferson-Le-Blanc
B-Jefferson-Le-Blanc
Sep 30 2015
5.0
Sep 30 2015
5.0
Version: null
fridafroh
fridafroh
Jun 26 2015
5.0
Jun 26 2015
5.0
Version: null
bobmcleod
bobmcleod
Jun 11 2015
5.0
Jun 11 2015
5.0
Version: null
WisdomL0RD
WisdomL0RD
May 28 2015
5.0
May 28 2015
5.0
Version: null
Welandr
Welandr
Mar 1 2015
5.0
Mar 1 2015
5.0
Version: null
richb1993
richb1993
Feb 28 2015
5.0
Feb 28 2015
5.0
Version: null
Whisperquiet
Whisperquiet
Dec 11 2014
5.0
Dec 11 2014
5.0
Version: null
Tsehov
Tsehov
Dec 11 2014
5.0
Dec 11 2014
5.0
Version: null
bravesirshanus
bravesirshanus
Nov 16 2014
5.0
Nov 16 2014
5.0
Version: null
ozgur-1
ozgur-1
Nov 11 2014
5.0
Nov 11 2014
5.0
Version: null
anonymous-dolphin-6029
Oct 24 2014
5.0
Version: null
Masterminter
Masterminter
Oct 22 2014
5.0
Oct 22 2014
5.0
Version: null
FireMuffin
FireMuffin
Sep 2 2014
5.0
Sep 2 2014
5.0
Version: null
Christel1987
Christel1987
Sep 1 2014
5.0
Sep 1 2014
5.0
Version: null
jazztrane
jazztrane
Sep 1 2014
5.0
Sep 1 2014
5.0
Version: null
CharlesTheMacman
CharlesTheMacman
Aug 27 2014
5.0
Aug 27 2014
5.0
Version: null
MacMec
MacMec
Aug 27 2014
5.0
Aug 27 2014
5.0
Version: null
anonymous-skink-4656
anonymous-skink-4656
Aug 27 2014
5.0
Aug 27 2014
5.0
Version: null
Simon-W
Simon-W
Aug 12 2014
5.0
Aug 12 2014
5.0
Version: null
Hugobeng
Hugobeng
May 4 2014
4.0
May 4 2014
4.0
Version: null
bouvetpenguin
bouvetpenguin
Apr 30 2014
3.5
Apr 30 2014
3.5
Version: null
Hal-Itosis
Hal-Itosis
Apr 10 2014
5.0
Apr 10 2014
5.0
Version: null
Whitefishsc
Whitefishsc
Apr 10 2014
5.0
Apr 10 2014
5.0
Version: null
Aargl
Aargl
Mar 13 2014
5.0
Mar 13 2014
5.0
Version: null