Microsoft releases Edit: A free command-line text editor for x64 Windows

Microsoft has released Edit, a free command-line text editor for 64-bit (x64) versions of Windows 11.

The editor has similar text editing capabilities to the 32-bit version of MS Editor, a command-line editor released for 32-bit (x86) Windows 10 and earlier, with new features. Although Windows 11 users can use Notepad to edit any text file, command line users must jump out of the command prompt or PowerShell interface when using that app.

Beginners do not need to remember special keyboard commands because Edit uses a menu system similar to Notepad, with File, Edit, View, and Help listed across the top. Since Edit is running in a Command Prompt under Windows 11, mouse support has been added for easy menu and file selection.

The text editor also supports word wrapping of long lines of code, as well as regular expression (regex) search patterns to find text within large documents. Multiple files can be opened at once, but the initial version does not support side-by-side display of two files.

Readers can build or download MS Edit from GitHub today. Those who forgot how to run MS-DOS commands can read this book sold on Amazon. Tinkerers who want a taste of running actual MS-DOS on a 8086 CPU can try this handheld PC sold on Amazon.