handy tool - txtcollector, and two questions

Posted by jimspoon
Aug 29, 2019 at 04:22 PM

I just found a handy tool named Txtcollector, which merges multiple text files into one, with insertion of filenames and separator lines:

https://bluefive.pairsite.com/txtcollector.htm

I have folders of many small text files, and I need to go through them all and edit each one. This is made especially tedious by the limitations of the file managers I use. For each file I have to: (1) highlight the file in the file list pane; (2) load the file in a text editor (double-click or press F4); (3) edit the file; (4) save the file (Ctrl+S, or using mouse); (5) close the editor (Esc or other key); (6) move highlight to next file. Repeat for all files.

I would like to find a file manager with a viewer pane that is also an editor - anybody know of one? Ideally after highlighting the file in the file list pane, I could tab to the editor pane, make my edits, then tab back to the list pane, saving the edits automatically. Anybody know of any such a file manager?

Even better, it would be great I could find a text editor into which I could load many files at once, with all files appearing consecutively in a single window, with some kind of visual indication of the boundary between each file. Each file could then be edited by browsing through the single “virtual file” and making edits. When the “virtual file” is saved, the changes would be saved to each of the individual text files that makes up the “virtual file”. I seem to recall that the Sense editor had some kind of capability like this? Anybody know about this, or any other such editor?

I haven’t checked yet, but perhaps the author of Txtcollector has a companion utility to write a merged file made by Txtcollector back to separate files. If not I’ll suggest it.