linewrapping

Line wrapping, also called line wrap or word wrap, is the automatic division of a text line into multiple visual lines to fit within a fixed width. It is used in word processors, text editors, terminal emulators, and web rendering to ensure content remains visible without horizontal scrolling.

There are two main concepts: soft wrap, where the text is visually broken into lines without inserting new characters, and hard wrap, where actual newline characters are inserted at wrap points. Hyphenation may be used to break long words around the wrap point, reducing awkward gaps and preserving readable line lengths.

Wrap strategies vary. Greedy wrapping places a break at the first opportunity that keeps the rest of the line within the width; this is simple and fast but can produce uneven line lengths. More sophisticated approaches, such as optimal line breaking, use algorithms (for example the Knuth-Plass method) to minimize overall unattractive breaks and hyphenation penalties.

Wrap width depends on rendering context: fixed-width displays use a set column count; proportional fonts introduce variable character widths; different devices and environments (terminals, PDFs, web browsers) have different metrics. In practice, editors offer soft wrap toggles; hard wrapping is common in plain text files and requires reflowing. In code, many developers prefer no wrapping or wrap at logical points; some editors allow language-aware wrapping.

Accessibility and readability considerations include avoiding excessive line length, enabling wrapped viewing for narrow screens, and ensuring that wrapping does not split code tokens or important punctuation in undesirable ways.