Lua Editor Support

wiki

The following editors have some Lua support (at least highlighting or formatting) out of the box:

• [Intellua/IntelluaTE] (Win32;MIT licensed)
  • Auto completion for variables, functions, classes of custom APIs and user-created types in Lua.
  • Variable type deduction via static code analysis, user-overridable.
  • Independent from Lua interpreter, suitable for embedded Lua.
  • .NET control for integration with game editors.

• [Lua Development Tools] (Windows/MacOS/Linux, 32 & 64 bits, Open Source (EPL))
  • Eclipse-based IDE, available as a standalone distribution
  • Auto completion
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Syntax error markers
  • Code formatter
  • Code folding
  • Code snippets
  • Occurrence highlighting
  • Code navigation ("Go to definition")
  • Visual debugger

• [ZeroBrane Studio Lua IDE] (Win32, OSX, Linux; MIT licensed)
  • Auto completion for functions, keywords, and custom APIs.
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Integrated remote debugger
  • Supports Moai, Love2d, LuaJIT, and other Lua engines/interpreters
  • Watch view, Stack view with locals and upvalues, Interactive console with pretty printing

• [NSBase] (Win32; Win64; Linux32; Linux64 Freeware)
  • It is a rapid development workshop (IDE / RAD) for database application
  • Standalone application generation
  • Can start from your usb stick
  • LUA Scripting
  • Interactive LUA console
  • Auto completion for functions, keywords, and custom APIs.
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Editor intellisense
  • Multi languages
  • Use SQLite, Firefird, Interbase, MariaDB, Mysql, Postgresql, Sybase
  • Importing databases : Text files, MS Access (MDB File), SQLite and Kexi
  • Many wizards : action, chart, form, list...
  • Advanced reports : qrcodes ,barcodes, shapes, images...
  • Multi plateforms : Windows and Linux
  • Chart component

• [Decoda Lua IDE] (Win32)
  • Auto completion
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Debugger for Lua 5 and later using Visual Studio PDB to allow debugging of embedded lua code
  • Supports Debugging on 360 and PS3
  • Supports LuaJIT and LuaPlus?
  • Watch, Globals, Locals, Call Stack, Lua Stack, etc
  • Used Commercially by large and small games studios

• [LuaEdit IDE] (Win32, Win64, freeware)
  • Completion proposal
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Watch, Globals, Locals, Call Stack, Lua Stack, etc
  • Debugger (local and remote) for Lua 5.0, 5.1 and 5.2

• [BabeLua Lua Addon for Visual Studio](Win32, freeware, Open source)
  • Auto completion
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Syntax error check
  • Formatting code
  • Lightweight project management
  • Quick search
  • Preview file outline and jump
  • List token references quickly
  • Object-oriented model support
  • Visual Studio project template
  • Debugger (Watch, Globals, Locals, Call Stack, Lua Stack, etc) for Lua 5.0 and higher

• [LuaStudio Lua IDE] (Win32,win64)
  • Auto completion
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Code folding
  • Code snippet
  • Symbol list
  • projects manage
  • Debugger for Lua 5 and later using Visual Studio PDB to allow debugging of embedded lua code
  • Supports Debugging on 360 and PS3
  • Supports LuaJIT and LuaPlus?
  • Watch, Globals, Locals, Call Stack, Lua Stack, etc

• [DForD LuaCoding] (Win32, shareware, [free license])
  • Auto completion
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Code folding
  • Code snippet
  • Symbol list
  • Organises projects
  • Watch, Globals, Locals, Call Stack, Lua Stack, etc
  • Debugger for Lua 5.1

• [Vim] (most platforms)
  • Vim comes with syntax highlighting and indentation for Lua. Vim 7 supports Lua 5.1
  • [ftp.vim.org] You can download the latest version of the official syntax and indent files here.
  • [vim-lua] Improved Lua 5.3 syntax and indentation support for Vim.
  • [luarefvim] is the Lua reference manual for Vim.
  • [lua-support] Lua-IDE for Vim.
  • [Lua Support 2] Lua-IDE for Vim, successor of lua-support.
  • [LuaInspect] has plugin for VIM

• [dte] (Linux, *BSD, OS X, POSIX)
  • Terminal editor implemented in C99 and POSIX 2008 APIs.
  • Built-in syntax highlighting for Lua.
  • Auto-indentation for various languages, including Lua.
  • Next release will have Lua scripting, in addition to the existing, shell-like command language.
  • In-editor command-line with support for running sub-processes, build systems, etc.
  • Multi-tabbed, multi-paned interface, with support for several views of a single buffer.
  • Can be compiled without curses, to allow creating a fully self-contained, static binary.
  • Dynamically-linked release build is ~350KiB.

• [Scintilla/SciTE] (Win32/GTK+)
  • Lua syntax highlighting (4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2).
  • Lua scripting extension [1]
  • SciteScripts is a community area for disseminating Lua extension scripts
  • [lua5api.zip] Lua 5.0 C API and Lua functions for SciTE calltips (with optional annotations)

• [SciTE Setup Wizard] provides a batteries-included installation for Windows; it is pre-configured with Lua function calltips and Lua 5 keywords.
• [Lua for Windows] includes a customized version of SciTE which can also debug Lua scripts.
• LuaInspect - has plugin for SciTE

• [NsEditor] (Win32, freeware) NsEditor? for the Apocalyx Engine is a stand-alone script editor written to develop games for the Apocalyx engine. NsEditor? is written in Delphi. It's main target is to simplify Apocalyx game development by means of offering a rich set of features and a game framework. The most important editor features include:
  • Multiple script editor windows, Lua syntax highlighting, Apocalyx syntax highlighting, context dependent syntax.
  • Auto proposal and completion plus parameter proposal, Templates, Zipfile support, Media preview, Direct control of Apocalyx allowing in-game editing and control, Unlimited custom Apocalyx control commands, Function list, etc.
  • NsEditor? is set up to also supports a complete game framework. The game framework is based on a set of prefab entities and macro functions. Entities are predefined code snippets, written as normal Lua functions, that can be insert into your personal game scripts.
  • Project template files, zip file support, media preview, goto function, insert Variable, GlGooey? skin editor (to skin the GUI elements), XML highlighter, INI highlighter, etc.

• [Geany] (Unix, Windows and most other platforms)
  • Code folding, Syntax highlighting (since Geany 0.11)
  • Also has a plugin that allows you to control/extend the editor using Lua scripting.

• [Textadept] (Windows/Linux/OS X, MIT, GTK+)
  • Extremely extensible editor written in C and Lua using Scintilla

• [Zeus for Windows] (Win32, shareware)
  • Code folding
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Project/Workspace manager
  • Class browser
  • Code templates
  • Tools and macros
  • The [QuickHelp] feature can open the [Lua Helpfile] at the topic of current word.
  • [Debugger] for Lua 5.1
  • Editor is fully configurable using embedded Lua 5.1 scripting module

• [PSPad for Windows] (Win32, freeware)
  • Support of Lua 4.0 syntax highlighting
  • Can be re-configured to support Lua 5.0 syntax highlighting
  • Keyboard F-keys can open [Lua Helpfile] at the topic for a word the cursor is on.

• [Crimson Editor for Windows] (Win32, freeware)
  • Support of Lua 4.0 syntax highlighting
  • Can be re-configured to support Lua 5.0 syntax highlighting
  • F1 can open [Lua Helpfile] at the topic for a word the cursor is on.

• [EmEditor] (Win32, shareware)
  • Lua 5.0 syntax highlighting configuration file

• [jEdit] (Java, freeware)
  • Support of Lua 5.0 syntax highlighting

• [TextWrangler] (OS X, freeware)
  • Support of Lua 5.0 syntax highlighting

• [SubEthaEdit] (OS X, commercial)
  • Support of Lua 5.0 syntax highlighting

• [TextMate] (OS X, commercial)
  • Support of Lua 5.0 syntax highlighting
  • Lua macro support

• [BBEdit] (OS X, commercial)
  • Support of Lua 5.0 syntax highlighting

• [Smultron] (OS X, freeware; discontinued)
  • Support of Lua 5.0 syntax highlighting

• [Sublime Text] (Linux, OS X, Windows, commercial)
  • Lua syntax highlighting

• [Notepad++] (Windows)
  • Lua syntax highlighting

• [Notepad3] (Windows)
  • Lua syntax highlighting

• [FXiTe] (Windows/Linux/FreeBSD, GPL)
  • Lua syntax highlighting
  • Built-in Lua scripting engine

• [ScriptDev] - script IDE for Python, Ruby, Lua, Tcl, Perl

Editors requiring 3rd party add-ons, and miscellaneous editor tools:

• [Emacs] and [XEmacs] (most platforms)
  • [lua-mode] with syntax highlighting, auto-indent, interactive lua shell, paren and brace matching, auto-move to function or block begin/end, online documentation look-ups, postprocess output buffer (jump to error lines using traceback).
  • [lua2-mode] - semantic highlighting for Lua (e.g. differentiate globals and locals).

• [GNU Nano] (Unix, Windows and most other platforms)
  • [Syntax highlighting file], see here to [install it].

• [Jed 0.99.19 and later] (Unix, Windows and most other platforms)

• [Visual Studio] (win32)
  • [LuaLanguageService] syntax highlighting, code regions / auto outlining, auto completion, never freeze for huge lua files, for Visual Studio 2010/2012/2013 and it is Open Source.
  • [LuaLangPack] syntax highlighting, code regions / auto outlining, Lua project trees, for Visual Studio 2005.
  • [LuaLite] syntax highlighting and auto-completion plug-in for Visual Studio .NET 2003.
  • See also CompilingLuaScriptsInVisualStudio

• [Xcode] (OS X)
  • Files:wiki_insecure/editors/XcodeLuaSyntaxHighlighting.zip (Note: doesn't seem to work with XCode 3)
  • [capgo] has a version for XCode 3.x

• [Coda] (OS X, commercial)
  • Requires copying the Lua syntax module from the [SubEthaEdit] demo

• [MED] (win32 and OS/2 PM)
  • Files:wiki_insecure/editors/med-lua40.syn

• [NEdit] (most platforms)
  • visit site to download Lua pattern

• [EditPad Pro] (Win32)
  • [EditPad Pro BR] (Portuguese version)
  • [EditPad Pro Syntax Coloring Scheme for Lua] (Supports both Lua v4 and v5)
  • [EditPad Pro File Navigation Scheme for Lua] (for automatic code folding and a function tree)

• [TextPad] (win32)
  • Files:wiki_insecure/editors/textpad-lua40.syn
  • [Lua_5.0.syn] (Lua 5.0 compliant syntax definition)

• [EditPlus] (win32)
  • ftp://ftp.editplus.com/files/lua.zip (Lua4)
  • Files:wiki_insecure/editors/editplus-lua50.stx (Lua5, needs updating)
  • http://skrollan.myftp.org/Editplus_Lua_5.0.2.zip (syntax highlighting, if incomplete report it)

• [MC-Cooledit] (Unix, win32)
  • [Syntax coloring scheme] Use this with the internal editor of the GNU Midnight Commander to get your scripts with fancy colors. Includes small Lua script to perform installation.

• [ConText] (win32)
  • http://www.context.cx/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,100/Itemid,48/ (Lua highlighter)

• [FTE] (Unix, win32, OS/2)
  • http://t-o-m-e.net/tmp/m_lua.fte (Lua highlighter)

• [UltraEdit] (win32)
  • [Syntax coloring scheme] Copy/paste this at the bottom of the wordfile.txt configuration file in the installation folder to add syntax coloring for Lua 5.

• [Notepad2 with Lua support] (win32)
  • A customized version of the [Notepad2] editor.

• [Epsilon] (win32)
  • Epsilon is an emacs-like editor that has been around for quite a few years in the DOS, OS/2, Windows, and lately Mac OSX and Linux platforms. A [simple Lua mode] is available, written in Epsilon's C-like extension language EEL. It is known to work with Epsilon 13, and probably works with some earlier versions as well. Save the liked file locally as luamode.e, compile to bytecode and load into the running Epsilon state with the compile-buffer command (which is probably bound to Alt+F3). Save the modified state file as usual (with the write-state command). The resulting major mode handles simple syntax highlighting and code indentation cases, but it does have blind spots and limitations.

• [Eclipse] (open-source, EPL) is a Java IDE that can be extended to support Lua 5.1 with one of these plugins
  • [Lua Development Tools] wich comes with syntax highlight, code completion, compilation errors, code and comment folding, code navigation, and a debugger.
  • [LuaEclipse] wich comes with syntax highlight, code completion, compilation errors, code and comment folding (and) script execution with a pre-configured interpreter.
  • [LunarEclipse] wich comes with syntax highlight, code completion, compilation errors, code and comment folding and an ouline view.

Comments on Specific Editors

UltraEdit

/Open Fold Strings = "{" /Close Fold Strings = "}"

jEdit

Here's a basic jEdit macro that filters the currently selected text through a Lua function. --DavidManura

Process p = java.lang.Runtime.getRuntime().exec(
    "lua -e\"io.stdout:write((io.stdin:read'*a':gsub('[a-z]','-')))\"");
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(p.getOutputStream()));
bw.write(textArea.getSelectedText());
bw.close();

BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
String text = "";
String buffer;
while ((buffer = br.readLine()) != null) { text += buffer + "\n"; }
textArea.setSelectedText(text);