How to Split a Long String into Multiple Lines in Python

To split a long string into multiple lines in Python, use textwrap.wrap(text, width), which returns a list of lines broken at spaces, or textwrap.fill() for one string with line breaks. If the text already has newlines, splitlines() splits on them:

import textwrap
lines = textwrap.wrap(text, width=40)

My sample text is a short store notice, and the outputs come from Python 3.12.5. Nothing to install: textwrap ships with Python.

You’ll wrap text to a width, use indents and line limits, split text that has its own line breaks, cut fixed-size pieces, and write long strings across several lines in your code.

Wrap a long string at a fixed width with textwrap

wrap() won’t split a word in the middle unless it has to. The bars in this output show each line fits inside 40 characters:

text = ("Our Austin store opens at 7 AM on weekdays and 8 AM on weekends. Online orders over $50.00 "
        "ship free to every US state, and returns are accepted within 30 days of delivery.")
import textwrap

lines = textwrap.wrap(text, width=40)        # a list of lines, broken at spaces
for line in lines:
    print(f"|{line:<40}|")
print(len(lines), "lines")

print(textwrap.fill(text, width=60))         # one string with \n between lines

Output:

|Our Austin store opens at 7 AM on       |
|weekdays and 8 AM on weekends. Online   |
|orders over $50.00 ship free to every US|
|state, and returns are accepted within  |
|30 days of delivery.                    |
5 lines
Our Austin store opens at 7 AM on weekdays and 8 AM on
weekends. Online orders over $50.00 ship free to every US
state, and returns are accepted within 30 days of delivery.

Use wrap() when you need the lines separately, for example to draw them one by one, and fill() when you just want to print. Looping over the result works like iterating through a string in Python.

Indent, limit or shorten the wrapped lines

fill() and wrap() take options for bullet-style indents and for cutting text off after a number of lines. shorten() squeezes everything onto one line:

# text = the store notice from the first example
import textwrap

print(textwrap.fill(text, width=50, initial_indent="* ", subsequent_indent="  "))
print()
print(textwrap.fill(text, width=50, max_lines=2, placeholder=" [...]"))
print()
print(textwrap.shorten(text, width=60, placeholder="..."))
print(textwrap.wrap("SKU-TX-2026-ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP", width=10))                  # long words get broken
print(textwrap.wrap("SKU-TX-2026-ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP", width=10, break_long_words=False))
print(textwrap.wrap("SKU-TX-2026-ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP", width=10, break_long_words=False, break_on_hyphens=False))

Output:

* Our Austin store opens at 7 AM on weekdays and 8
  AM on weekends. Online orders over $50.00 ship
  free to every US state, and returns are accepted
  within 30 days of delivery.

Our Austin store opens at 7 AM on weekdays and 8
AM on weekends. Online orders over $50.00 [...]

Our Austin store opens at 7 AM on weekdays and 8 AM on...
['SKU-TX-', '2026-', 'ABCDEFGHIJ', 'KLMNOP']
['SKU-', 'TX-2026-ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP']
['SKU-TX-2026-ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP']

Look closely at the SKU: even with break_long_words=False, it’s still split after the hyphens. That’s break_on_hyphens, which is on by default. Turn both off to keep codes and URLs whole.

If you just need the start of a string, see getting the first N characters of a string.

Split a string that already has line breaks

When the text came from a file or an API, it already contains line breaks. splitlines() is usually the right tool, and it behaves differently from split("\n"):

report = "Austin,1250.50\r\nDenver,980.25\nTampa,1120.75\n"

print(report.split("\n"))          # keeps \r and adds an empty last item
print(report.splitlines())         # handles \r\n and \n, no empty last item
print(report.splitlines(keepends=True))
print("".split("\n"), "".splitlines())

Output:

['Austin,1250.50\r', 'Denver,980.25', 'Tampa,1120.75', '']
['Austin,1250.50', 'Denver,980.25', 'Tampa,1120.75']
['Austin,1250.50\r\n', 'Denver,980.25\n', 'Tampa,1120.75\n']
[''] []

I use splitlines() for anything from Windows users, since \r\n endings are common there. For reading a file one line at a time instead, see reading a file line by line in Python.

Split a string into fixed-size pieces or by paragraph

Sometimes you need exact chunk sizes, like grouping a tracking number, and sometimes you need to wrap several paragraphs without merging them:

import textwrap

tracking = "1Z999AA10123456784US2026TX"
print([tracking[i:i + 6] for i in range(0, len(tracking), 6)])   # exact 6-character pieces

notes = """Store hours changed for the holidays. We close at 4 PM on Dec 24.

Gift cards never expire and can be used online or in any Texas location."""
paragraphs = notes.split("\n\n")                               # keep blank lines between paragraphs
print("\n\n".join(textwrap.fill(p, width=45) for p in paragraphs))

Output:

['1Z999A', 'A10123', '456784', 'US2026', 'TX']
Store hours changed for the holidays. We
close at 4 PM on Dec 24.

Gift cards never expire and can be used
online or in any Texas location.

Slicing ignores word boundaries, which is exactly what you want for codes. More slicing patterns are in splitting a string at every Nth character.

Write a long string across multiple lines in your code

A different meaning of “split a long string” is keeping a long literal readable in your source file. Triple quotes with textwrap.dedent(), or adjacent strings inside parentheses, both work:

import textwrap

def receipt():
    message = textwrap.dedent("""\
        Thanks for shopping with us!
          Order: A-2026-1005
          Total: $87.40
        See you again soon.""")
    return message

print(receipt())

long_sql = ("SELECT city, SUM(total) "
            "FROM orders "
            "WHERE state = 'TX' "
            "GROUP BY city")                     # adjacent literals are joined into one string
print(long_sql)

Output:

Thanks for shopping with us!
  Order: A-2026-1005
  Total: $87.40
See you again soon.
SELECT city, SUM(total) FROM orders WHERE state = 'TX' GROUP BY city

The backslash after the opening """ stops an empty first line. For backslash continuation and other options, see continuing long strings on the next line.

Which method should you use?

Goal	Use
Wrap text to a width (list of lines)	textwrap.wrap(text, width)
Wrap text to a width (one string)	textwrap.fill(text, width)
One-line preview	textwrap.shorten(text, width)
Split on existing line breaks	text.splitlines()
Exact N-character pieces	[s[i:i+n] for i in range(0, len(s), n)]
Long literal in source code	Parentheses or textwrap.dedent()

Here are more guides for working with text in Python:

• Remove newlines from a string in Python
• Split a string by whitespace in Python
• Indent multiple lines in Python
• Convert a multiline string to a single line

Frequently asked questions