How to add text to the beginning of every line in notepad

To prepend text to each line in Notepad (which lacks native support), use: 1) Notepad++ with regex ^ and replace; 2) PowerShell’s Get-Content | ForEach-Object; or 3) Notepad’s Alt+drag column mode for short, aligned files.

If you need to prepend text to the start of each line in Notepad, the built-in editor lacks native support for this operation. Here are the methods to achieve it:

The operating environment of this tutorial: Windows 11 Pro, Notepad (version 11.2309.17.0)

1. Use Notepad++ with Find and Replace

This method leverages Notepad++'s extended regex capabilities to insert text at the beginning of every line.

• Open your file in Notepad++.
• Press Ctrl + H to open the Replace dialog.
• Enable "Regular expression" mode at the bottom.
• In the "Find what" field, enter ^.
• In the "Replace with" field, enter your_text_here (e.g., "[INFO]").
• Click "Replace All".

2. Use Windows PowerShell with Get-Content and ForEach-Object

This approach reads the file line by line and prepends the desired string before writing back to disk.

• Open PowerShell as administrator or standard user.
• Navigate to the directory containing your file using cd "C:\path\to\folder".
• Run: Get-Content "input.txt" | ForEach-Object { "PREFIX$_" } | Set-Content "output.txt".
• Replace "PREFIX" with your intended text and adjust filenames accordingly.

3. Use Notepad's Column Mode Editing (Manual for Short Files)

This technique works only when all lines are visible and aligned vertically, allowing insertion across multiple lines simultaneously.

• Open the file in Notepad.
• Hold Alt and click-drag to select a vertical block at the very start of all lines.
• Type your text — it will appear at the beginning of each selected line.
• Save the file immediately after typing.

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