G - code editor

Software
1

What program out there is for editing g-code.

2

g-code is just text, so any halfway decent text editor can be used.

David Lang

3

like what
Word ?

4

does it have to be saved as anything particular ( .nc)

5

What format will GC open

6

I would suggest something like notepad. Word will want to save it in Word format and do all sorts of document-appropriate tricks with it, but you just want to edit text. The Maslow g-code files are .nc, so that’s a pretty good choice. I am only aware of GroundControl opening .nc files, although I’m just getting started using GC.

7

more like wordpad (word it so sophisticated that it has trouble leaving things
simple)

save the files as plain text.

there is not a standard file extension for g-code, .nc is common, but not the
only one. I don’t remember this list of what GC will find by default, but you
can set it to show multiple extensions.

David Lang

1 Like
8

bCNC has a nice built-in editor with a visual reference to the cut you are editing. It also allows you to move blocks of code around to optimise the travel.

9

Do you already have a favorite text editor, like vi(m) or emacs, etc?

You don’t say which OS you’re using. Not up on Plan9’s editors, but for WinDoze Notepad++ has enhanced gcide editing with the right plugin. Here’s a quick article on it

https://zero-divide.net/?shell_id=151&article_id=4809_notepad-absolutely-free-g-code-editor-with-code-highlighting

2 Likes
10

So I opened my gcode in word pad did my editing and saved it as a “txt” file. when I open GC and try to open it I can not see any files except “nc” files.

Thanks

11

rename the file to have a .nc extension and all should be well.

3 Likes
12

thanks

13

I did not know that you could do that :slight_smile:

1 Like
14

Glad to be of help!