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{{Short description|Text editor for Microsoft Windows, 1992–1999}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}
{{notability|Products|date=April 2015}}
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{{Infobox software
| name = Programmer's File Editor
| logo = PFE32_Icon_64x64.png
| screenshot =
| caption =
| developer = Alan Phillips of Lancaster University
| released = {{Start date and age|1992|7|28|df=yes}}
| latest release version = 1.01
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|1999|2|1|df=yes}}<ref name="Pfe_home">{{cite web |last1=Phillips |first1=Alan |title=The Home of Programmer's File Editor |url=https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/~steveb/cpaap/pfe |website=Lancaster University |accessdate=13 January 2020}}</ref>
| discontinued = yes
| programming language = [[C++]]
| operating system = [[Windows]] (16 and 32 bit)
| language = English
| size = 608 [[Kilobyte|KB]]
| genre = [[Text editor]]
| license = [[Freeware]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/~steveb/cpaap/pfe}}
}}

'''Programmer's File Editor''' ('''PFE''') is a freeware text editor targeted particularly to the needs of [[software programmer]]s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=The Starman |title=PFE = Programmer's File Editor |url=https://thestarman.pcministry.com/tool/pfe/PFE32.htm |website=The Starman's Realm |accessdate=13 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Posey |first1=Brien |title=Five feature-rich Windows text editors |url=https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-feature-rich-windows-text-editors/ |website=TechRepublic |date=17 June 2015 |publisher=CBS Interactive |accessdate=13 January 2020}}</ref> It was written by Alan Phillips of [[Lancaster University]] in the north of England. Development of Programmer's File Editor ceased in 1999, but the program is still in use by some programmers. It was featured in a report about [[Freeware|free software]] in an episode of the [[BBC]] series [[The Net (British TV series)|The Net]].<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/7fed156433e64592894a38ae091da625 "The Net: BBC Two England, 4 May 1994"], [[BBC Genome]] (Retrieved 6 February 2023)</ref>

==Features==
Strengths of the editor include:
* ability to run programs against the current file and capture their output in another window<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mertz |first1=David |title=Web Review: Programmer's File Editor |url=https://people.apache.org/~jim/NewArchitect/webrevu/2000/08_25/developers/08_25_00_4.html |website=Web Review |publisher=CMP Media LLC |accessdate=13 January 2020}}</ref>
* easy [[Macro (computer science)|macro]] recorder and editor; macros can be saved and assembled into "libraries"
* line breaks, tabs, and other special characters allowed in search and replace
* file type recognition
* using [[batch file]]s to perform compilation tasks from within the editor
* Customizable screen display; display and other characteristics can be set for specific file types, both pre-fab and user determined
* [[Multiple document interface|Multiple document interface (MDI)]] with tiling and minimizing supported
* Keyboard remapping allows editor to be extensively reconfigured to one's personal taste
* Printer formatting is versatile
* fast even on very large files as editor does not try to understand the text being edited

Weaknesses of the editor include:
* lack of published source code means there have been no updates for {{age|1999|02|01}} years
* unique default keyboard shortcuts for search and replace (F2 for search, Shift-F2 for repeat search, F3 for search and replace) although these problems can be easily overcome by using Options->Key mapping to reprogram these shortcuts.
* Tends to lock up when opening unusually long files, or files with excessively long lines (above 16k characters)
* Lack of Unicode support (although this does mean that the characters shown are an accurate representation of the file's actual bytes).
* inability to [[Code folding|fold code]]
* no support for regular expressions in find/change
* no support for redo and only limited undo
* no support for language specific [[Syntax highlighting]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/people/steveb/cpaap/pfe/ Programmer's File Editor Home Page]

[[Category:Freeware]]
[[Category:Windows text editors]]

Programmer's File Editor - Revision history

imported>Gonnym: /* top */ fix date template; cleanup