As an academic, I often have to conduct "numerical experiments" by running a small computer program that outputs to a text file.
I use TextEdit to read the text file.
However, when I re-run the program, and the contents of the text file changes, I find that the contents in TextEdit do not automatically update to the new version.
In order to access the new version, I need to close the existing TextEdit window, and open the file again in TextEdit.
Is there a way to refresh the file to the new version in TextEdit?
For those of you who know about the program Vim, what I am looking for is like the command :e[dit] in Vim which allows one to
Edit the current file. This is useful to re-edit the current file, when it has been changed outside of Vim.
Best Answer
There's a ugly way of doing it, as far as I know.
Once the file has been edited just try to save it. TextEdit will prompt you saying something like:
Giving you the choice to either Restore or Save anyway.
While Save anyway will keep your changes and save as a new version the changes made by the other application, Restore will update your file with these new changes.
Unless there's a specific reason to use TextEdit I'd recommend using any other text editor, such as TextMate, which supports the automatic refresh.