ABAP Syntax Highlighting in Notepad++

This is a personal blog post to document the steps necessary for ABAP syntax highlighting in Notepad++, my text editor of choice.

Although the steps are present on internet, this post may be helpful for some people.

Below steps are for Notepad++ version 6.5.1.

These steps are required because ABAP syntax (technical term is UDL – User Defined Languages) is not bundled in Notepad++, and hence ABAP syntax needs to be imported as a user defined language.

Adding ABAP syntax to Notepad++

1. Download Notepad++ from Notepad++ Download page
2. Download the ABAP syntax file from sourceforge userDefinedLang ABAP.zip
3. Unzip the zip file to get ABAP.xml file.
4. Open Notepad++, go to Menu > Language > Define your language, and click on Import button.
5. Choose ABAP.xml file, you should get popup ‘Import successful’.
6. These steps would make Notepad++ capable of syntax highlighting.

How to test whether ABAP syntax is working

There are 2 ways to test the feature.

1. Put abap code in text file with extension .abap, and open it in Notepad++.
2. Write some code in Notepad++, go to Menu > Language > ABAP

In case ABAP is not visible is Menu > Language, it means ABAP syntax is not yet imported. Try importing the UDL file again.

In future, I may update this blog with modified UDL file that makes syntax similar to SAP GUI New ABAP Editor.

Update: Modified UDL content can be found in ABAP Syntax Highlighting in Notepad++ Part 2

I may also try out something like this in jEdit text editor.

Update: I tried jEdit and findings can be read in this comment ABAP in jEdit – comment