notispf 1.0.4

A terminal text editor inspired by the ISPF editor from z/OS

notispf

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.

Installation

Download a binary (no Python required)

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

Platform	File
Linux	notispf-linux
macOS	notispf-macos
Windows	notispf-windows.exe

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.

Via pip

pip install notispf

From source

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

Usage

notispf <file>

Screen Layout

 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

Navigation

Key	Action
Arrow keys	Move cursor
Page Up / Page Down	Scroll
Home / Ctrl+A	Beginning of line
End / Ctrl+E	End of line

Switching Between Text and Prefix Area

Key	Action
Tab	text(N) → prefix(N+1)
Tab	prefix(N) → text(N)
Shift+Tab	text(N) → prefix(N)
Shift+Tab	prefix(N) → text(N-1)

Prefix Commands

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.

Single-Line Commands

Command	Action
D	Delete line
Dn	Delete n lines (e.g. D5 deletes 5)
I	Insert blank line after
In	Insert n blank lines
R	Repeat line
Rn	Repeat line n times
C	Copy line to clipboard
Cn	Copy n lines to clipboard
M	Move line (cut to clipboard)
Mn	Move n lines
A	Paste clipboard after this line
B	Paste clipboard before this line
>n	Indent right n columns (e.g. >4 adds 4 spaces)
<n	Indent left n columns (removes up to n leading spaces)
HEX	Replace this line with its hex representation
HEXB	Insert a hex copy of this line below it
HEXA	Convert a hex line back to ASCII text
UC	Uppercase this line
UCn	Uppercase n lines (e.g. UC3)
LC	Lowercase this line
LCn	Lowercase n lines

Block Commands

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

Command	Action
DD	Delete block
CC	Copy block to clipboard
MM	Move block (cut to clipboard)
RR	Repeat block (insert a copy below)
>>n	Indent block right n columns
<<n	Indent block left n columns

Use A or B 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

Prefix Mode Controls

Key	Action
Enter	Execute all staged prefix commands
Escape	Cancel all staged commands and exit prefix mode
↑ / ↓	Move between lines (keeps staged commands)

Command Line

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

File Commands

Command	Action
SAVE	Save file
FILE	Save and exit
CANCEL or QUIT or CAN	Exit without saving

Undo / Redo

Command	Action
UNDO	Undo last change
REDO	Redo last undone change

Hex Mode

Command	Action
HEX ON	Convert entire file to hex (e.g. Hello → 48 65 6C 6C 6F)
HEX OFF	Convert hex back to text

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

Find and Change

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

Labels

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.

Function Keys

Key	Action
F1	Help
F3	Save and exit
F5	Repeat last FIND (RFIND)
F6	Open command line
F7 / Page Up	Scroll up
F8 / Page Down	Scroll down
F10	Scroll left
F11	Scroll right
F12	Exit without saving
Ctrl+Z	Undo last change
Ctrl+Y	Redo last undone change

Contributing

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.

License

MIT