A terminal text editor for Linux and macOS inspired by the ISPF editor from z/OS mainframes. Runs in your terminal like vim or nano, with the prefix command area that ISPF users know and love.

Go to the Releases page and download the binary for your platform:

Linux / macOS:

chmod +x notispf-linux   # or notispf-macos
./notispf-linux myfile.txt

Optionally move it somewhere on your PATH:

mv notispf-linux ~/.local/bin/notispf

macOS note: macOS will warn that the binary is from an unidentified developer. To clear the warning:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./notispf-macos

Then run it normally.

pip install notispf

git clone https://github.com/mrthock/notispf
cd notispf
pip install -e .

notispf <file>

 notispf  filename.txt                    Line 1/42  Col 1
000001|This is the first line of your file
000002|Second line here
000003|Third line
      |~
      |~
Type prefix command, Enter to execute, Esc to cancel

• Status bar (top) — filename, modified flag [+], current line/total, cursor column, [HEX] when hex mode is active
• Prefix column (left, 6 chars) — shows line numbers; type commands here
• Text area (right of |) — edit your file
• Message/command line (bottom) — status messages and command input

Type a command into the prefix column, then press Enter to execute. You can stage commands on multiple lines before pressing Enter — they all execute at once.

Type the command on the first line of the block, then again on the last line.

Use A, B, or O/OO on a third line to place the clipboard after copying or moving.

Example — move lines 3–6 to after line 10:

1. Tab to line 3 prefix → type MM
2. Arrow down to line 6 → type MM
3. Arrow down to line 10 → type A
4. Press Enter

Excluded lines are collapsed into a single fold row showing the count. Use SHOW ALL on the command line to reveal everything at once.

Press F6 to open the command line, then type a command and press Enter.

[HEX] appears in the status bar while hex mode is active. HEX ON and HEX OFF each count as a single undo step.

EXCLUDE 'pattern'
EXCLUDE 'pattern' ALL
EXCLUDE 'pattern' n

DELETE 'pattern'
DELETE 'pattern' ALL
DELETE 'pattern' n
DELETE X ALL
DELETE NX ALL

• EXCLUDE 'pattern' — exclude the next matching line from display
• EXCLUDE 'pattern' ALL — exclude all matching lines
• EXCLUDE 'pattern' n — exclude the next n matching lines
• DELETE 'pattern' — delete the next matching line
• DELETE 'pattern' ALL — delete all matching lines
• DELETE X ALL — delete all currently excluded lines
• DELETE NX ALL — delete all non-excluded lines

FIND 'text'
CHANGE 'old' 'new'
CHANGE 'old' 'new' ALL
CHANGE 'old' 'new' ALL .labelA .labelB

Both single and double quotes are accepted as delimiters.

Aliases: F for FIND, C for CHANGE.

• FIND — locate next occurrence (case-insensitive by default)
• CHANGE — replace next occurrence
• CHANGE ... ALL — replace all occurrences in file
• CHANGE ... ALL .A .B — replace all occurrences between labeled lines

Type .A, .B etc. in the prefix column to assign a label to a line. Labels are used to define ranges for CHANGE ... ALL .A .B.

notispf is designed to be easy to extend. Adding a new prefix command takes three steps:

1. Write a handler function in notispf/commands/line_cmds.py:

def cmd_trim(buffer: Buffer, line_idx: int, count: int) -> EditorResult:
    for i in range(line_idx, min(line_idx + count, len(buffer))):
        buffer.replace_line(i, buffer.lines[i].text.rstrip())
    return EditorResult(success=True)

2. Register it in the same file's register() function:

registry.register_line_cmd(CommandSpec("T", cmd_trim, description="Trim trailing whitespace"))

3. Add tests in tests/test_line_cmds.py.

That's it — no changes to the prefix state machine, display, or app controller needed.

See ARCHITECTURE.md for a deeper overview of the codebase.

MIT