FG

How to turn off word-wrap in less

Fresh3 days ago
Mar 15, 2026221213 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

Short version: How can I make the utility in Linux not wrap lines? Long version: Often I need to view huge CSV files using less with hundreds of columns. I frequently only care about the first couple columns. However, word wrap causes one line to become several lines even on wide-screen monitors.

Error Output

less

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Fix for: How to turn off word-wrap in less

Low Risk

Note: For the key binding, see the second part. In , it's called line folding rather than line wrapping. To set it not to fold, use the option: Causes lines longer than the screen width to be chopped rather than folded. That is, the portion of a long line that does not fit in the screen width is not shown. The default is to fold long lines; that is, display the remainder on the next line. — less(1) Alternatively, as mentioned in the below comment, if you already opened the file, you can toggle …

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