textwrap

textwrap is a standard library module in Python that provides utility functions for wrapping and filling text paragraphs. It was introduced in the Python 3 standard library to help developers format plain-text output consistently and predictably. The primary purpose of textwrap is to take arbitrary blocks of text and reformat them so that each line does not exceed a specified maximum width, while also ensuring that words are not broken in the middle unless explicitly allowed.

The module’s most frequently used functions are wrap and fill. wrap returns a list of strings, each representing a line of wrapped text, whereas fill returns the text as a single string with newline characters inserted at appropriate wrap points. Both functions accept keyword arguments such as width to control the maximum line length, initial_indent to add a prefix to the first line, subsequent_indent for additional lines, and drop_whitespace to decide whether to trim whitespace at the ends of lines. The module also allows users to customize the text splitting logic by providing a custom break_long_words function or setting break_long_words to False to avoid hyphenating lengthy words.

textwrap can be used in various contexts such as command-line applications, log formatting, email message generation, and any situation where plain-text presentation requires consistent column widths. Because it is part of the standard library, it is available in all Python installations without external dependencies. The module is implemented in pure Python, making it straightforward to understand and modify if necessary.