I'll avoid taking the bait about which editor as actually the "perfect"
one, and I will simply offer that VIM (VI iMproved) also handles various
record separators, syntax highlighting, etc., etc., and works on a
plethora of platforms including Windows and Macs.  And, better than
shareware, it's free -- get it at www.vim.org.  I use it as my full-time
editor for MPE files over Samba/iX, and it works flawlessly.  BTW, it
will read MPE flat files just fine (unlimited record length!), but
saves only in bytestream format.
--
Gary W. Smith
[log in to unmask]

> I can't speak from direct experience since I use BBedit on a Mac, which
> handles all types of record separators with equal aplomb, however my
> compatriot at Allegro, Michael Hensley, swears by UltraEdit, a shareware
> programmer's text edior for Windows. He tells me it handles all types of
> record separators, does syntax coloring for a variety of languages, and
has
> lots of other neat features. I would tentatively guess that this is your
> "perfect" text editor.