I have always loved open source IDEs for php code development and from what i have seen most of the best php editors are commercial, yet there are only few free ones available, so i have decided to put up a list of pretty handful ones. I am sure there are many many php programmers who dont want to spend money for an IDE and this list of IDEs would be more helpful if you are hungry for a free editor. Trust me it took hours of work for me to come with this list.
1. Notepad++
Notepad++ is a dead simple, easy to use code editor for various programming languages including HTML, PHP, C++, SQL, Javascript and other plethora of languages. It is FREE and open source.
2. Context Editor
ConTEXT is a compact, fast and easy to use freeware text editor with much simplicity designed as a secondary code editing IDE for programmers.
3. Eclipse
Eclipse is the most widely used and popular multiple lange IDE for software development. It has PHP Development Kit available free for download and is exclusive for PHP developers. The eclipse editor is the best PHP editor to with for large scale projects, but to install the editor the Java must be installed without which it will not work. It is cross-platform and works in Linux, MacOS and Windows.
4. Aptana Studio
Aptana is a popular web development IDE for web development and application programming. It supports various languages including HTML, CSS, Javascript for web designers and programmers.
5. Netbeans
Netbeans is a free open-source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for software developers. It comes with all the tools you need to create a large scale web applications supporting almost all programming languages including C/C++, PHP, JavaScript, Groovy, and Ruby and others.. It runs under the Java platform, which means you will need to install java in your PC run this editor.
6. jEdit
jEdit is a text editor for programmers and runs in Windows, Linux, Mac under java. It is free to download and licensed under GNU license.
7. Geany
Geane is a small, lightweight and fast performing IDE using GTK2 toolkit. It has basic features of an editor and supports various file types. It is FREE for download.
8. Dev-PHP IDE
http://devphp.sourceforge.net/
Dev-PHP is a freeware Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for PHP development. It is free to download and is licensed under GNU GPL license.
9. Davors PHP Editor
Davors PHP Editor is a compact, fast and easy to use php IDE for windows. It is a freeware.
10. Bluefish
http://bluefish.openoffice.nl/
Bluefish is a free lightweight open source (GPL) editor for web designers and programmers. It runs of multiple platforms including Linux, Mac, Windows.
11. PHP Coder
PHP Coder is a free PHP IDE for php development environment. It supports syntax highlighting, preview, autocomplete and other standard editing buttons. It is a freeware.
12. Alleycode
Alleycode is a freeware IDE text and html editor. It is very simple and easy to use.
13. Winsyntax
Winsyntax is a free php code editor with syntax highlighting and its a free application.
14. CodeLobster PHP Editor
Codelobster is a free portable IDE for PHP/HTML/CSS/JavaScript development. It comes with various plugins specific for cakephp, joomla, wordpress and smarty development.
15. Kompozer
Easy web authoring and html editor for Mac. It is free and easy to use.
16. Komodo Edit
Free code editor for windows, mac and linux platforms. It supports many programming languages including PHP, Python, Perl, Javscript, HTML and CSS.
These are the best editors i have seen. If you know any editors (useful ones) which i have left out, please leave a comment and i will be able to add that to the above list.
