How do I scroll the view left or right when lines extend beyond the screen width?

Explanation

When :set nowrap is active and lines extend beyond the screen width, Vim clips the view. The zH, zL, zh, and zl commands scroll the view horizontally — left and right — to reveal the hidden portions of long lines.

Horizontal scroll commands

When to use this

Horizontal scrolling is only meaningful with :set nowrap. With wrapping on, all content is visible and these commands have no effect.

Example

Viewing a wide CSV or log file:

:set nowrap
zL    " jump right by half screen to see more columns
zH    " jump back left
5zl   " scroll 5 columns right

Tips

• {N}zl / {N}zh scroll N columns at a time
• zs is useful to snap the view to the cursor position after navigating with $ to a long line
• sidescrolloff controls the minimum number of columns kept visible around the cursor (like scrolloff for vertical)
• :set sidescroll=1 makes horizontal scrolling smooth (1 column at a time) instead of jumping by large chunks
• These are distinct from the normal $/0 motions — those move the cursor, these scroll the view