jEdit is a programmer's text editor written in Java. jEdit uses the Swing toolkit for the graphic interface and can be configured as a rather powerful IDE through the use of its plugin architecture.

While jEdit beats many expensive development tools for features and ease of use, it is released as free software with full source code, provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

The core of jEdit is primarily developed by Slava Pestov, and jEdit plugins are being written by a diverse team of programmers from around the world.

Features:

Efficient keyboard shortcuts for everything

Comprehensive online help

Unlimited undo/redo

Copy and paste with an unlimited number of clipboards (known as "registers")

Register contents are saved across editing sessions

"Kill ring" automatically remembers previously deleted text

Rich set of keyboard commands for manipulating entire words, lines and paragraphs at a time

"Markers" for remembering positions in files to return to later

Marker locations are saved across editing sessions

Any number of editor windows may be open, each window may be split into several areas, each area can view a different file. Alternatively, different locations in one file can be viewed in more than one area

Multiple open windows and split windows are remembered between editing sessions

Rectangular selection

Multiple selection (sometimes known as "discontinuous" or "additive" selection) for manipulating several chunks of text at once

Word wrap