Looking for text editor for invisible characters

Hi all,

Does anyone know any good text editor out there that can read and write any invisible characters (for Windows XP Pro)? Or suggest a way to do it with any default text editors found in Windows XP? I used to be able to do it using Notepad from Windows 2000 Professional ed. It was a perfect editor. But the XP version has "put user friendliness in it" and hides those invisible chars.

Now, the problem that I have here is (if you know HL7 standard, you know why I need this):

1. I need to know if a particular line in a text file has Ascii(28) - File Separator. This character is super invisible (well, some text editors allow us to see carriage return and line feeds, but limited to those frequently used only). And the file may have hundreds of lines of long messages. Although editors like Notepad++ or UltraEdit allow us to read in Hex format, but reading in that columnar format for thousands of characters is a headache. And I can't search for "[Ascii(28)]".

2. Aside from reading, I'll need to write too (and quickly. I can build a .net program to write the char to the text file, but i need more granular control to the writing. I prefer the same experience as using the good old Notepad. ).

Perhaps, anyone know where I can get the good old Notepad from Windows 2000?

Thanks in advance.

Visual Studio ? No ?

Well, I tried opening the file in VS2005, but it's behavior is similar to current notepad. Good thing is we can differentiate CR from LF, but there's still no visibility for those hidden characters like Ascii(28). Unless there's a certain option that i'm not aware of?

could you send me a file with those special chars, please ?

>>softwaremaker>>AT>>sgdotnet

Holy kabloiee, my apology to you, softwaremaker. The file that I received from client doesn't follow HL7 format, that is, the special characters has been stripped out. No wonder I don't see the invisible characters in it. In fact, it wasn't there in the first place. I've just found it out from another file sent. (Anyway, sent to u for your analysis)

Following your suggestion, I can in fact uses VS2005 to view the invisible characters from the correct file. (But i'll have to change the file extension to something that's not registered under notepad. Else VS2005 will launch notepad instead.)

In fact, I can use Notepad++ to view it. And it's layout is better than VS2005 (okay, it's personal opinion).

Relieved....