After installation, there are a few things you need to customize. For php this is what I did:

1. Open a php file with some functions
2. Go to Plugins->Function List->Language Parsing Rules
3. Click PHP and the ‘add group’ button
4. Under group rules add the following (without the quotes):
   1. function start: “[\t]*function “
   2. function name: “[\w]*”
   3. function end: “\(“
5. and click ‘Try’ and view your list being created.
6. If you like what you see, click ok if not, you can fiddle with the regex.

Keep in mind that this might be different with your code convention, in that case, you’ll have to adjust the second (function name) regex.

At my current job we don’t have that much objects and classes, so I’ll see if i can whiff up a class based regex later.

[edit]
More posts about Notepad++ can be found here: Notepad++ customization.

I have some small adjustments for myself and maybe for you.

[ctrl]+[enter] now opens the function suggest by default which was the QuickText Replacer. Look in the shortcutmapper for this one (#36), just clear it and you’re back to normal.

The new function hinting system is great. I wish there was a way to add () when inserting a function name, and move the cursor in the brackets. Additionally, some comment on the function’s use would be helpful on hovering.

I noticed some people were coming to my site to find out how to change the font size, well, this is easy, just hit [ctrl] and scroll your mouse!

For entering some Quicktext please see my Quicktext Wiki.

[edit]
Don’t forget to install the Quicktext plugin which you can find here.

More posts about Notepad++ can be found here: Notepad++ customization.

For functions you don’t use all the time, you might forget what the parameters are, or in which sequence they are to be given. At least I do. The editors mentioned above have a feature where it can suggest a function on the go. So does Notepad++. But (afaik) Zend and Dreamweaver also suggest the parameters. Which N++ does not.

The ‘api’ for N++ lacks the parameter suggestion. But I wrote a little script which added the parameters to the file.

You can download a copy of php.api here.(use ‘save target as’)

Please note that using the suggestion will result in the description text of the parameters to be added as well. So for now, just use the suggestions as guidance.

To use this file i suggest to set the following settings:
auto-completion enabled on function, starting from 2 charatures (or it will drive you insane with spaces and tabs)

Also, as a tip, you can use Ctrl+shift+space to complete variables in your file.

[edit]
More posts about Notepad++ can be found here: Notepad++ customization.