How to wrap long text to a specified width in Python

Uses Python's textwrap.fill to wrap a long string to a specified width at word boundaries, preserving readability in console output or logs.

Easy Python 3.9+ Aug 9, 2026 Strings & text 12 views 0 copies

textwrap text wrapping formatting word wrap stdlib

Python code

8 lines

Python 3.9+

import textwrap

text = """This is a long piece of text that definitely exceeds the width limit
if we try to print it on a single line without any wrapping applied."""

wrapped = textwrap.fill(text, width=40)

print(wrapped)

Output

stdout

This is a long piece of text that
definitely exceeds the width limit
if we try to print it on a single
line without any wrapping applied.

How it works

The textwrap.fill() function takes a string and a width and returns a single string with embedded newlines, wrapping at word boundaries. It breaks lines to avoid exceeding the specified width unless a single word is longer than the width. It collapses whitespace and preserves the original text's meaning. This is ideal for formatting output for terminals, logs, or generating readable reports.

Common mistakes

Using `textwrap.wrap()` and forgetting to join the resulting list with newlines
Not considering that `fill()` collapses multiple whitespace characters
Assuming the width includes the current indent or prefix

Variations

Use `textwrap.wrap()` to get a list of lines, then join with `'\n'.join(lines)`
Customize with `initial_indent` or `subsequent_indent` parameters for hanging indents

Real-world use cases

Formatting log messages to keep log files readable within a fixed column width.
Generating formatted email or report text where lines must not exceed a certain length.
Wrapping user-facing help messages in CLI tools to fit the terminal width.

How to wrap long text to a specified width in Python

Python code

Output

How it works

Common mistakes

Variations

Real-world use cases

More from Strings & text

Tutorials

Quizzes

Python code

Output

How it works

Common mistakes

Variations

Real-world use cases

More from Strings & text

Keep learning

Tutorials

Quizzes