Auto completion
Auto completion is a time-saving feature which changes a short abbreviation into a complete string. It supports Perl and C/C++ by default. For example, if you type "if" and press space key, it will expand to the following string.

    if ()
    
    }

In case this feature becomes annoying, you can suppress this feature temporarily by holding down Shift key or Window key when you press the Space key.

In order to use auto completion feature for other file types, you should write auto completion file and specify its path in the Settings & Syntax page of the Preferences dialog box.

Auto completion file is a plain text file which has ".ACP" extension and should be written in predefined syntax. The syntax is very simple. The fastest way is to look into the sample .ACP file that comes with EditPlus.

    Header Information

    #TITLE=C/C++
    #CASE=y

    Each statement should be prefixed with '#' sign.
    1. #TITLE - The title of auto completion file.
    2. #CASE - Specify case sensitivity. 'y' for yes and 'n' for no. Default value is 'n'.

    You can also insert comment line in the auto completion file. Comment line begins with semicolon(;). If you need to specify a text clip which begins with semicolon, you should prefix an escape character '^' to it.

    Text clips

    #T=if
    if (^!)
    
    }

    The format of the text clip is same as that of Cliptext library. Each text clip begins with title in the form of "#T=title". Title is the abbreviation that you want to expand. Text body comes next. You can define optional Hot Spot using "^!". "^" is used as escape character. If you want to insert "^" itself in the text body, you should enter the character twice like this: "^^". When you insert the "#" in the text body, you also have to prefix an escape character to it like this: "^#". The text body can have multiple lines. An optional '#' sign can be placed in the line after the last line to indicates the end of the text clip. Please note that delimiters are not allowed in the title (#T=).

    #T=if
    if (^!)
    
    }
    #

    User files repository
    EditPlus web site has a collection of user files (stx, ctl, acp files) on User Files page. You can submit your own syntax file to <submit@editplus.com> if you would like to share your file with other users.