PilotEdit

PilotEdit is an advanced text and hex editor that supports opening files larger than 4GB. It offers customizable syntax highlighting, advanced search and replace operations, HEX mode, column mode, and a built-in FTP client to edit and upload files directly to an FTP server.

★★★★★

5.0(1 ratings)

• Unlimited file size editing. PilotEdit edits files up to 400GB (40 billion lines). Compares and merges files up to 100GB (10 billion lines). Downloads or uploads files larger than 4GB through FTP/SFTP. Encrypts or decrypts files exceeding 4GB without splitting them.
• Full UNICODE and DOS/UNIX format support. Automatically detects text file encoding. Converts multiple files from one encoding type to another. Adjusts text encoding automatically when copying and pasting between files with different encodings, preserving special characters.
• Syntax highlighting and user-defined file types. Supports over 30 predefined file types. Allows defining custom file types with different tab and indent settings per type. For example, assigns tab for C/C++ and four spaces for Java when pressing the TAB key.
• Hexadecimal (HEX) editing mode. Inserts, deletes, cuts, copies and pastes in HEX mode. Performs find and replace operations in hexadecimal mode. Automatically detects encoding when switching from HEX mode to text mode. Provides unlimited undo and redo in both HEX and text modes.
• Column mode editing. Inserts a typed character into all selected lines simultaneously. Pastes a single-line string into all selected lines. Pastes multi-line text inserting it line by line into the selected lines while maintaining vertical alignment.
• Unlimited undo and redo. Allows undo or redo even after switching between text mode and HEX mode. No limit exists on the number of reversible actions, facilitating error correction in large documents.
• FTP and SFTP file editing. Opens and saves files directly on FTP/SFTP servers. Deletes remote directories and files. Uploads and downloads entire directories with their structure. Edits remote files and saves changes without manual downloads.
• Multi-line find and replace. Locates and replaces text blocks spanning multiple lines. Performs these operations using regular expressions, enabling complex patterns such as HTML tags spread across multiple lines or code blocks.
• Directory and file comparison and merging. Compares two entire directories. Compares and merges files larger than 100GB (10 billion lines). Edits directly in the comparison window. Updates comparison results when content changes. Copies all different or identical lines to the clipboard to identify items present in only one file.
• 256-bit AES encryption. Edits encrypted files transparently (opens, modifies and saves without manual decryption). Encrypts or decrypts entire directories and files. Protects files larger than 4GB. Saves the active file as encrypted or unencrypted, even on FTP servers.
• File groups. Defines sets of files that open with a single click. Useful for projects requiring the same documents each time, such as configurations, logs and scripts associated with a recurring task.
• Search and replace in multiple directories. Searches for text strings across several directories simultaneously. Performs searches inside ZIP files without extraction. Replaces text across multiple files in different folders with extension filtering options.
• Line sorting. Sorts lines in files larger than 1GB. Applies sorting as text or as integer numbers. Sorts according to a specific column or using regular expressions that define the sorting key. Useful for logs or tabular data.
• Duplicate line detection and removal. Finds duplicate lines in files larger than 1GB. Removes repetitions keeping one instance. Compares lines as text or as numbers. Operates on a specific column or on patterns defined by regular expression.
• String extraction using regular expressions. Copies to the clipboard all strings matching a regular expression pattern. For example, extracts email addresses, phone numbers or URLs from large text files without manual editing.
• Saving selected files while preserving directory structure. Copies chosen files along with their parent folders. Maintains the original hierarchy when exporting search results or filtered file sets, facilitating partial project migration.
• Automatic text formatting. Detects start and end tags in text blocks. Applies formatting to the selection to correct indentation and alignment. Assists in preparing code or structured data such as XML, JSON or programming languages.
• Regular expressions with built-in generator. Includes a generator that helps construct complex patterns without syntax errors. Allows searching and replacing strings defined by regular expression both on single lines and across multiple lines.
• Script file execution. Defines scripts containing frequently used regular expressions. Executes the script to apply multiple replacements sequentially. Includes an example script for removing duplicate lines to automate the process.
• Self-defined string table. Inserts a predefined string with a single click. Adds strings before and after selected text. Accelerates insertion of signatures, templates or repetitive code fragments.
• Word wrap. Enables word wrapping to view all content without horizontal scroll bars. Does not modify the original file, only the on-screen presentation, preserving original line breaks.

PilotEdit is developed by PilotEdit Studio. The first version of the tool was released in 2010. The program is written primarily in C++ to guarantee efficient handling of large files and performance in low-level operations such as hexadecimal editing and massive file comparison. The developers initially focused on solving the limitation of other editors in opening files larger than 2GB, evolving toward a complete set of text and data processing tools.

Alternatives to PilotEdit:

Itsypad

Itsypad is an application for macOS that combines a multi-tab text editor with a thousand-element clipboard history manager.

Price: Free   Size: 2.93 MB   Version: 1.4.4   OS: MacOS