WordStar

I remember using Wordstar for CP/M. It did pretty much everything you needed, and it didn't get in your way.

I was also a heavy user of XyWrite. One of the fun things about XyWrite was you could get it do almost anything. If there wasn't a code for it, you could insert printer controls directly into your file.

As a production editor now, one feature those systems didn't have that we rely on is being able to track and review edits. Thirty years ago that would have been done on paper printouts.

I'd started using DOS-based machines in the 80s, and ended up with a copy of WordStar 3.3. I used it so much as a kid that I still have the WordStar keybindings stuck in my muscle memory.

There's one CLI text editor left with WordStar keybindings used natively: Joe's Own Editor. If you're like me and enjoy WordStar's key combinations and the editing paradigm, JOE is a good text editor to use on the command line.