How to open CGI files on PC

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Key notes

  • If you want to open a CGI file on your PC you can use a powerful text editor with a customizable GUI and UI design.
  • We recommend that you try a really great tool from Adobe with HTML and CCS support in order to fix the problem.
  • Opting for a program with syntax highlight and folding can help you solve the issue.
  • Converting the CGI file is also a very handy alternative. See in our guide how it's done.
best solutions to open cgi file

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a type of script file incorporated in website pages.

The CGI scripts are primarily for web forms and search boxes. For example, many developers add CGI scripts to pages that send out form data to email addresses.

The Common Gateway Interface files are essentially text documents that include scripts. Perl is the most common programming language for CGI scripts.

However, developers can also code them in C. All you need in order to open a CGI file is a text editor that supports this format.


How do I open a CGI file on my Windows PC?

1. Use Adobe Dreamweaver

IF you are serious about web development, then a great place to start is with Adobe Dreamweaver.

This web development platform is designed to easily get you started in visually creating web pages and as you progress, you can start working with scripts.

Using the simplified coding engine, you can easily get started in learning HTM or CSS and reduce errors thanks to the built-in visual aids.

However, if you want to skip all of that, there are thousands of templates you can use and modify to suit your website.

The pages you can create with Adobe Dreamweaver look stunning, and they change dynamically depending on what device you’re viewing them on.

Some of the features to look forward to when using Dreamweaver is the multi-monitor support, the live view editing, as well as the easy-to use UI.

This great software is also compatible with a multitude of formats such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and many more.

Adobe Dreamweaver

Adobe Dreamweaver

Get a professional and easy to use tool that can help you open a multitude of formats especially CGI files!
Free trialVisit website

2. Open a CGI file with a Text Editor

  1. Download the Notepad++ setup wizard to Windows. The software has 32 and 64-bit versions, so click Notepad++ Installer 32-bit x86 if you have a 32-bit Windows system.
  2. Open the software’s installer from your browser’s download folder. Run through the setup wizard to install it, and open the program‘s window below.
  3. Then you can click File, then access Open and select the CGI file to open in Notepad++.

There are numerous programs you can open CGI files with. Third-party software isn’t even required as you can open them in Notepad. However, the Notepad text editor doesn’t have any options or tools for scripting.

So if you’re wondering how to how to open a CGI file, Notepad++ is a much better text editor that supports this type of format. The best thing about Notepad++ is that it includes syntax highlight and folding.

As such, this is a great software for editing CGI scripts. It also has a customizable GUI and a tabbed UI design that enables users to open multiple files within one window.

⇒ Download Notepad++


3. Convert the CGI File to PDF

  1. First, open the PDF24 converter page in your browser. That converts CGI and other file formats to PDF.
  2. Press the Choose file button, and then select the CGI file to convert.
  3. Press Go to convert the file to PDF.
  4. Click the Download button to save the PDF.
  5. You can open the CGI script in Chrome by right-clicking its PDF and selecting Open with. Select to open it with the Google Chrome browser.
  6. You can also open the document with alternative PDF software, such as Adobe Acrobat and Foxit.

You can also open CGI documents by using Google Chrome in order to convert your CGI file to PDF.

Chrome has its own PDF viewer that opens the documents in tabs. However, you can’t edit the documents in the browser unless you add an extension to it.

You’re not really opening the CGI file, but the PDF will include all its script. This is how you can convert a CGI file to PDF format.


So you can open a CGI file in Notepad++ and Chrome. Vim, EditRocket, and gVim are alternative software that also supports the file format.

If you need to edit the CGI script, open the file in Notepad++. Convert the CGI to PDF if you only want to share or print the file.

We’d like to hear more from you on this subject so drop us a comment in the dedicated section below.

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