Scrolling issues when the `wrap` option is set

Question

I find myself dealing with this issue every time the wrap option is active (in my particular case whenever I'm working with markdown files).

What happens is that, while scrolling up and down the buffer with j and k, the wrapped lines of text (visually forming a paragraph) at the far top and far bottom don't scroll smoothly (i.e. one by one) out of screen. Instead, whole paragraphs disappear and reappear abruptly from and into view, making for a disorienting and annoying effect.

I think a GIF will explain better what happens. Here, I'm just pressing k repeatedly to scroll upwards. Keep an eye on the paragraph near the bottom!

I got used to this behaviour because I didn't think it was fixable, but then I realized that doesn't happen with physical lines and wrap unset.

Is there a way to tell Vim to scroll out of screen by visual lines instead of physical ones?

ps: Yes, I've mapped my j and k to gj and gk.

Answer 1

That is an issue, that has been often requested but never been implemented. So no, there is no possibility for a better and smoother scrolling, once the lines wrap.

Update: This is no longer entirely true. See @Richs answer for the status as of 2023

Answer 2

I think you are looking for:

set display=lastline

See :help 'display'.

Answer 3

There is hope!

A new option 'smoothscroll' was added to Vim in version 9.0.0640, to allow nicer scrolling with soft-wrapped lines.

The bad news is that it currently¹ doesn't support the gj and gk commands:

NOTE: only partly implemented, currently works with CTRL-E, CTRL-Y and scrolling with the mouse.

_{1: As of around May 2023}