hardwrapped

Hard wrapped, or hard wrapping, is the practice of inserting explicit newline characters to end lines at a fixed width, so the text becomes a series of physically separate lines. This is distinct from soft wrapping or word wrap, where lines are visually broken without changing the underlying text.

Hard wrapping is commonly used in plain text contexts such as emails, plain-text documentation, and source code where line-length constraints or compatibility with older terminals require fixed-width lines. Typical line widths range from 72 to 80 characters, though some guidelines specify 78 or other values. It helps ensure readability on narrow displays and can make diffs clearer in version control systems.

Editors provide various ways to enforce hard wrapping. Auto-fill or wrap modes insert line breaks as you type, while explicit commands or options can set a fixed text width. Examples include Emacs auto-fill-mode, Vim's textwidth setting, and many modern editors that offer a hard wrap command. When enabled, typing beyond the wrap point creates new lines and can affect indentation and the formatting of lists or code blocks.

Trade-offs exist: hard-wrapped text is compatible with older systems and can simplify diffing, but it can disrupt paragraph structure, complicate reformatting, and interfere with content like code comments or prose that benefits from natural wrapping. In formats like Markdown or code files, soft wrapping is often preferable unless the target format requires hard line breaks.