ARCHIVED: In vi, how do I set up line-wrapping and do paragraph filling?

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Line-wrapping is done through the use of a variable in vi called wrapmargin. While in vi, to set up line-wrapping, press Esc, then type:

  :setwrapmargin=8

This will make the text you're typing wrap to the next line when it is eight letters from the right-hand side of the screen.

To set vi to always wrap text by default, edit or create a file called .exrc in your home directory, and add the following line:

  set wrapmargin=8

If you would like to reformat a paragraph after adding or deleting text from it, move the cursor to the beginning of the paragraph and enter the following:

  ESC!}fmt

This calls fmt, an external program, to reformat the text. If you are on a System V Unix computer, you can substitute a different command by entering:

  ESC!}adjust -m70

To set up the letter q to do paragraph filling automatically, add the following line to your .exrc: file:

  map q !}fmt^M

To type ^M, press Ctrl-v, then press Enter.

At Indiana University, for personal or departmental Linux or Unix systems support, see Get help for Linux or Unix at IU.

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Last modified on 2018-01-18 09:22:49.