How do I control how many columns Vim scrolls horizontally at once when the cursor reaches the screen edge?

Explanation

When wrap is off and the cursor moves past the edge of the screen, Vim jumps the view horizontally by a number of columns determined by sidescroll. Setting it to 1 gives the smoothest one-column-at-a-time scrolling. The default value of 0 jumps by half the screen width, which can be disorienting on wide files.

How it works

• :set nowrap — required to enable horizontal scrolling (wrap mode keeps all content visible)
• sidescroll=0 — the default; when the cursor hits the edge, the view jumps by half the window width
• sidescroll=1 — the view scrolls smoothly one column at a time as the cursor moves
• Higher values increase the jump size per scroll step

Example

For smooth horizontal scrolling when editing long lines:

:set nowrap
:set sidescroll=1
:set sidescrolloff=5

With these settings:

• The view doesn't wrap long lines (nowrap)
• Horizontal scroll advances one column at a time (sidescroll=1)
• The cursor always stays at least 5 columns from the left or right edge (sidescrolloff=5)

Tips

• Pair with sidescrolloff to keep a margin between the cursor and screen edge, preventing the view from repositioning exactly at the edge
• Use zL and zH to manually scroll the view left/right by half the window width without moving the cursor
• Use zl and zh to scroll one column at a time without moving the cursor
• To persist the setting, add it to your vimrc