import textwrap def print_s(legend, s): print(legend.rjust(14), repr(s)) def wrap(s): return textwrap.fill(s, width=30) # original is 31 characters long: # 0 1 2 3 # 1234567890123456789012345678901 original = "xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx. xxxx" print_s("original:", original) wrapped = wrap(original) print_s("wrapped:", wrapped) wrapped2 = wrap(wrapped) print_s("wrapped twice:", wrapped2) print() # this fails! assert wrapped == wrapped2