how do is set wrap for _reading_ a file that was already edited before

[aleCodd]

opening an existing file that have lines longer than the screen width, how do
i format the file for easy reading.

i think that the options 'textwidth' and 'wrapmargin' are effective only
while editing the file and adding _new_ lines...not for existing lines which
will not change whatever value you assign to those options.Am I right?

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[Tim Chase]

On 08/20/10 19:17, aleCodd wrote:
>
> opening an existing file that have lines longer than the screen width, how do
> i format the file for easy reading.
>
> i think that the options 'textwidth' and 'wrapmargin' are effective only
> while editing the file and adding _new_ lines...not for existing lines which
> will not change whatever value you assign to those options.Am I right?

It depends on whether you want re-wrapping that inserts newlines,
or if you just want to visually wrap the lines without effecting
their contents (by adding newlines)

For the former, you can use

:set tw=65 " whatever you want
:g/^/norm gqq

to reformat each line to the adjusted 'tw' setting. Note that
this will not *join* lines as "gqip" would. You could adjust the
:global command to something like

:g/^\n\</norm gq}

(untested) to reformat each empty-line-separated paragraph.

For the latter, you can

:set wrap

and optionally

:set linebreak

to get smart line-breaking that breaks at word-boundaries instead
of at the column-boundary.

Hope this helps,

-tim

[ale]

[Christian Brabandt]

Hi ale!

Read the help starting at :h formatting and :h usr_25.txt

regards,
Christian