this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
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Appreciation Post for KATE (media.piefed.social)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by yodeljunkmanenvy@piefed.social to c/kde@lemmy.kde.social
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I have been using KDE via Kubuntu for about 2 years now, other distros with Gnome before that. Based upon the name (KDE Advanced Text Editor, K.A.T.E.) I always thought of Kate as an alternative to Notepad++ or something like that. Like a highend note-taking app.

I recently started using Kate for managing my Docker-Compose yaml files on my homelab, using the Git functionality to sync to my repos and doing some web development. It's basically an alternative to VSCode or Codium.

Thanks to the devs who work on Kate . If you don't hear it enough we appreciate you!

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[–] Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 51 points 2 months ago

God I love Kate. Being able to just randomly open any file and get syntax highlighting and tabs makes dealing with system files so much easier

[–] watson387@sopuli.xyz 34 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, Kate is excellent. I use it on my Linux stuff at home but I use it on Windows at work also.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

but I use it on Windows at work also.

Huh... And here I was, never even considering that somebody may have ported Kate to Windows. I should try it, for the rare instance I'm editing something on Windows!

[–] jahtnamas@slrpnk.net 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

tons of KDE software is on the windows store, from KDE themselves, even (i can't link the platform filter directly, just change the "all platforms" dropdown to "windows")

[–] eli@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

God damnit. I never knew Konsole was available on windows.

[–] maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone 1 points 2 months ago

I think you mean Kwindows.

[–] needanke@feddit.org 3 points 2 months ago

Me too, it's been such a blessing!

[–] natecox@programming.dev 22 points 2 months ago

Kate was my first “real” code editor coming from windows notepad back in the 90’s. It was my first taste of syntax highlighting.

Fond memories.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I just took to using it since it was the default pre-installed editor when I went KDE.

I've been able to do everything I needed in it, all the way up to writing fairly complex python.

No complaints. In fact I quite like it.

[–] justlemmyin@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Ctrl + Shift + B is what converted me to a kate worshipper!

[–] yodeljunkmanenvy@piefed.social 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

TIL about Block Select!

[–] 56_@slrpnk.net 9 points 2 months ago

Also Alt+click to add multiple cursors.

[–] justlemmyin@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Indeed. It lets you do so much with that little feature. Not just select but edit also. My mind was blown. Made adding prefixes to each new line a piece of cake.

[–] Hominine@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago

Kate is awesome I use it every day; if not as a scratch pad, as an editor.

[–] rimu@piefed.social 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's my fave too. It handles opening files over the network very well and I like the scrolling system on the right.

Featherpad is my alternative when I want something I can paste into on the screen right now as Kate loads a little slowly.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

when I want something I can paste into on the screen right now as Kate loads a little slowly

Fun fact I just learned recently: If you have text in your clipboard, you can paste that directly into the file manager (or the desktop background). It will prompt you for a filename, and then create a file with the pasted text in it.

If all you want to do is paste some text, you can actually do that without using any text editor at all.

[–] NeilBru@programming.dev 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I use Zed these days, but I'll never uninstall Kate.

[–] j5906@feddit.org 1 points 2 months ago

Zed is quite impressive, it opens like instantly when you double click it.

VS Codium on the other hand takes a few seconds to display everything correctly. Yes once its open it speeds up and is not that slow anymore, but compared to Zed it does still feel very heavy.

[–] hayvan@piefed.world 9 points 2 months ago

I met Kate back in 2003 or so, immediately fell in love, and still use it (no longer my primary code editor, but primary for everything else.)

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 7 points 2 months ago (4 children)

One thing I miss from Notepad++ that I've never found in a Linux text editor is the ability to just open it and type stuff and it stays there even if you close it and open it again.

[–] yodeljunkmanenvy@piefed.social 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Have you tried using the Sessions feature in Kate? It allows you to pick up where you left off, even between multiple projects.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I haven't! But the main advantage of the Notepad++ way is the files aren't actually saved anywhere, it saves them temporarily until you choose where to properly save them. You can just keep opening new tabs and putting stuff in them and it remembers even if closed, but you don't have to actually save them.

[–] inaction_figure@fosstodon.org 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

@Dave @yodeljunkmanenvy

Yup, the Sessions feature can do that for you. I do the same thing. #Kate #KDE #Linux

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 months ago

Oh shit you're right, it does do that!

For others, here's what I did:

  1. Open Kate
  2. Click the "Sessions" menu, then "Save session". Give it a name.
  3. Close Kate.
  4. Open Kate, it prompts for which session you want. Click to open the session you just saved, but also click "Do not ask again".
  5. Open a new tab. Type something. Open another, type something else. Don't even save, just close Kate.
  6. Open it again, everything is where you left it!
[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sublime Text supports this, but it's not FOSS.

[–] redbr64@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

For this reason, Sublime Text is to me basically a gigantic scratchpad with dozens of tabs open at all times 😂

[–] sneaky@r.nf 2 points 2 months ago

Windows does this now /s

[–] diazona@techhub.social 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

@Dave @yodeljunkmanenvy Hmm interesting... I personally tend to think of that as a feature of a notetaking app rather than a text editor. But I see how it could come in handy in a text editor too, sometimes.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Maybe I should be looking for a note taking app, but I want it for storing everything from to do list items to quick edits of code snippets so I kind of want the text editor features.

[–] bitterseeds@fosstodon.org 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

@Dave @diazona I use Obsidian for all that.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Hmm, I guess I have Joplin and I use it a lot, but it doesn't really feel the same as a text editor. I'm not really sure how to explain it haha

[–] bitterseeds@fosstodon.org 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

@Dave Oh. I get you. I've jacked up VIM into a full on IDE, I do 98% of my day in VIM. Obsidian is good for a lot of stuff, I keep longer term code snippets and notes in it. I usually have two windows on my main VTE … VIM and Obsidian. :D

I get ya though. I do. I'm just an old head, so VIM will have to be removed my cold, dead hands. 🤣

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 months ago

I feel like I should up my game in vim. It's my preferred CLI text editor, I hate when things default to nano as I have trouble working out how to use it. But I very much use the OOTB vim and only basic commands at that.

When you say you have it set up as an IDE, are you talking something that looks like the first picture here (with the red boxes)? I have so much to learn 😅

[–] diazona@techhub.social 1 points 2 months ago

@Dave @bitterseeds FWIW I use Obsidian for notes but I feel like the way it handles code snippets is one of its weaknesses. Joplin seems marginally better 🤷 but I have not found a proper "code notes" app that I'm happy with.

[–] dosse91@lemmy.trippy.pizza 6 points 2 months ago

I absolutely love Kate, I've been using it since 2019 when I switched to Linux and I needed a replacement for Notepad++, and I prefer it to more sophisticated editors like VS Code.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

KATE replaced VSCode and Codium for my open source development work.

[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 4 points 2 months ago

Yeah, its great. I use it daily.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 months ago

I used kate for my algorithms class, it was so nice, the syntax highlighting and symbol referencing worked out of the box.

This was in contrast to ctags that confused me at the time.

I should actually install kate on my work mac, I just kind of defaulted to VS Code since the colleagues were doing that, but seeing now that Kate is crossplatform that should be nice.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago

I love Kate

I use it on gnome and it is simply fantastic

[–] aesopjah@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Curious if anyone knows this, does it use the same buffering system as N++? Meaning, if I open a log file in N++ that is still being written to it never has an issue with blocking the program writing to the file since (it seems) to open it in a separate buffer that can get updated as the file does. A very handy feature for the logs I use, and if Kate can do that I'm all in.

I will test it myself obv, but perhaps someone will be able to answer before I'm able to test, and then also the information will be here :)

[–] aesopjah@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

I can verify that it appears to work similar to N++ on a Windows install. Another program can 'own' the file being open and Kate will be able to have it open and read in new changes. Very cool! New tool for the toolbox

[–] jlow@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 months ago

+1

[–] Tomassci@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

Currently learning Python. Kate is awesome for that.

[–] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 months ago

I also really like it, it is fast, OS native, has polkit integration for system files, LSP and linting works too, for example shellcheck for posix sh or bash scripts.

Have not used some of the features yet

[–] Gonzako@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Kate looks a lot like Godots editor no? Maybe its just me

[–] synnackk@timesink.p3nguin.org 1 points 2 months ago

https://youtu.be/R7BUG8LOd8A