set fo+=n From :help fo-table: n When formatting text, recognize numbered lists. This actually uses the 'formatlistpat' option, thus any kind of list can be used. The indent of the text after the number is used for the next line. The default is to find a number, optionally followed by '.', ':', ')', ']' or '}'. Note that 'autoindent' must be set too. Doesn't work well together with "2". Example: 1. the first item wraps 2. the second item