Emacs has the function fill-paragraph. Is there any function which will do the opposite of that?
I have a paragraph which is already filled and instead I want it in a plain single line?
7 Answers
Quoting from Emacs Wiki, by Stefan Monnier:
Unfilling a paragraph joins all the lines in a paragraph into a single line. It is the contrary of FillParagraph.
It works where a line ends with a newline character (”\n”) and paragraphs are separated by blank lines. To make a paragraph end in a single newline then use the function below:
;;; It is the opposite of fill-paragraph (defun unfill-paragraph () "Takes a multi-line paragraph and makes it into a single line of text." (interactive) (let ((fill-column (point-max))) (fill-paragraph nil)))And to bind it to a key:
;; Handy key definition (define-key global-map "\M-Q" 'unfill-paragraph)See also UnfillRegion, and UnwrapLine.
answered Oct 25, 2014 at 18:39
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18This is a straight copy from Emacs Wiki page UnfillParagraph, with the author (Stefan Monnier) attribution removed. It is helpful to post the info here, but at least make clear who wrote the code and link to that wiki page.– DrewCommented Oct 25, 2014 at 19:00
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15It is simply polite to add attribution when you use someone's else information.– nicaelCommented Oct 25, 2014 at 19:15
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2Thanks to Malabarba for making the changes. @KingShimkus: nicael explained why this is better.– DrewCommented Oct 25, 2014 at 22:08
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2If you post content written by someone else, you must acknowledge your sources. Commented Oct 26, 2014 at 14:50
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1Note the link to the source changed. I edited it in the answer.– smonffCommented Jul 20, 2017 at 10:24
My method would be placing the cursor in the last line of the paragraph and hitting M-^ several times.
The beauty of this shortcut is that beside joining lines it reduces any amount of indentation spaces into single one.
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AFAIK, you can do
M-^and you need only hold the key down. The function is nameddelete-indentation.– rasmusCommented Oct 26, 2014 at 1:28 -
What is the function name for
M-S-^, it doesn't seem to work for me ?– SibiCommented Oct 26, 2014 at 7:09 -
1Yes the function is
delete-indentationand the shortcut is described in Emacs asM-^- the shift (S) was added by me, because you have to hold it anyway. Sorry for confusion.– RajishCommented Oct 26, 2014 at 23:56
There is the unfill package for this now.
Provides commands for explicitly unfilling (ie. unwrapping) paragraphs and regions, and also a command that will toggle between filling and unfilling the current paragraph or region.
It is based initially on Xah Lee's examples and later rewritten based on an article by Artur Malabarba
It provide the following:
M-x unfill-region
M-x unfill-paragraph
M-x unfill-toggle
It's convenient to add an handy keybinging of your choice like:
;; Allow to fill or unfill with a single keybinding
;; depending of the content status
(global-set-key (kbd "<f8>") 'unfill-toggle)
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1My mistake: the code based on Xah Lee's examples has not been incorporated as part of Emacs, but [is included as a MELPA package]( melpa.org/#/unfill).– easyECommented Oct 3, 2017 at 7:39
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@easyE I don't get the difference between your comment and the content of my answer, sorry.– smonffCommented Oct 3, 2017 at 9:41
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I haven't argued that this is a difference. I was mistaken in thinking the unfill pacakge had been included in Emacs 25, and then I corrected myself.– easyECommented Oct 4, 2017 at 10:45
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1Nice one. This package really should be built-in in Emacs. Commented Feb 1, 2023 at 16:06
A poor man's unfill can also be done by first setting the fill-column to some ridiculously high value (I use 9999) and then filling. For instance, C-u 9999 C-x f M-q C-u 70 C-x f. (Also, you might prefer C-9 C-9 C-9 C-9 to C-u 9999.)
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Actually a very good solution without needing a package as it retains some wanted paragraph filling logic Emacs provides.– JohnDoeCommented May 17, 2023 at 9:31
As always, there are several ways to do this, so I'll throw another answer in the ring:
Mark paragraph: M-h
Query replace newline with space in region:
M-% C-q C-j RET SPC RET !
In Evil mode there is the J key binding in normal mode from VIM. It joins the line below and the current line into one line. So by pressing it multiple times, you can undo fill-paragraph.
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After the initial
Jpress, you can also press.to repeat the previous command instead of having to hold down that pesky Shift. ;) Commented Jan 29, 2020 at 18:42
Finally found a super easy way:
- Select entire paragraph, eg
C-x h - Link up lines into one with
M-^
fill-paragraphdoes not justify the paragraph, unless you use a prefix argument or pass it a non-nilfirst argument. See (emacs)Fill Commands.