How can I turn off Emacs's auto line wrapping for the current session?
I normally need the automatic wrapping, but when editing a email draft, I don't need that. Is there a way to turn it off for a while?
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94
Depending on which flavor of automatic line wrapping you're using, it'll be one of
M-x toggle-truncate-lines
if your lines wrap hard at the right-hand edge of the window, or
M-x visual-line-mode
if your lines "soft wrap" at the whitespace nearest the right-hand edge of the window.
(If you're using an Emacs version older than 24.4, it may also be M-x longlines-mode, if your lines wrap hard at a given column.)
If you've issued the wrong command for your configuration, then the message in the minibuffer will say "...enabled" instead of "...disabled"; in that case, just issue the same command again to re-disable the bogus mode, and try the others until you've found the one which disables the mode you're actually using.
These are buffer-local modes, so issuing the command will affect only the buffer you're in when you do so; in all other buffers, you'll still have the benefit of line wrapping unless you similarly turn off the mode there as well.
Should you wish later to turn line-wrapping back on, just reissue the command you used to disable it.
Aaron Miller
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6For another culprit implicated in visual line wrapping, try `M-x toggle-truncate-lines` – Barry Kelly Oct 22 '13 at 16:18
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@BarryKelly Good point! I'd forgotten about that one -- I've just edited the answer to include it. – Aaron Miller Oct 22 '13 at 16:32
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I use it often enough to bind it to a keyboard shortcut by adding `(global-set-key (kbd "C-c w") 'toggle-truncate-lines); wrap` in my .emacs file. – Rolazaro Azeveires Feb 21 '16 at 14:57
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Another possibility may be to toggle auto-fill-mode: Alt + X, auto-fill-mode (tab completion works)
For example, turning off auto-fill-mode in AUCTeX stops hard line wrapping
Peter Mortensen
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chandler
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Just an update on longlines-mode.
As of Emacs 24.4, longlines-mode no longer exists. Therefore I'd recommend using M-x toggle-truncate-lines if you want it temporarily, or (set-default 'truncate-lines t) in your .emacs file if you want it be default in all buffers
Peter Mortensen
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Connor S
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1I need this effect for the *current* buffer, or editing session, and in particular, not as a default. – qazwsx Oct 20 '15 at 18:28
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1Ah right, misread the initial question. Just wanted to provide an update that `longlines-mode` won't work anymore. Updated my answer – Connor S Oct 21 '15 at 18:51
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1This was the only - and also most painless - solution that worked for me. @qazwsx consider changing this to the accepted one? – mmlac Oct 29 '15 at 05:50
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Yes, this works in the current document (Alt + X, toggle-truncate-lines). – Peter Mortensen Sep 29 '21 at 16:37