Run external tools

You may need to run the external tools (ex : compiler, interpreter or web browser) from Notepad++ (via Run dialog) by passing the current edited document as argument. To do so, you have to use the environment variable.

The usage of environment variable is :

$( ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE )

Say the current file you edit in Notepad++ is:

E:\my Web\main\welcome.html

The 5 environment variables contain:

Note that you should put the double quote around the path environment variables :
“$(ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE)” since they may contain the white space.

Here're 2 examples :

• firefox "$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)"
• iexplore "$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)"

These 2 user commands are also included in npp.3.0.installer.exe (or later version). You can launch them by Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I respectively.

There are 5 more variables (available from v3.7):

Here're the examples :

1. http://www.php.net/%20$(CURRENT_WORD)
2. http://www.google.com/search?q=$(CURRENT_WORD)
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=$(CURRENT_WORD)
4. $(NPP_DIRECTORY)\notepad++.exe $(CURRENT_WORD)

For the examples 1 ~ 3, we pass the argument URL + the current selected word(s) to the default browser in order to perform the search on Internet.

Whereas for the 4th example, it'll be useful if you want to open a file from current document. Consider a php file which contains a line:

include("../myFuncs.php");

Selecting ../myFuncs.php then typing the hot key you assigne to this command will open myFuncs.php in Notepad++, of course the mentioned file should exist in the indcated path.

The variable CURRENT_WORD brings you a flexible solution to configuer your external commands.