I don't understand how the function "string_nl2br" works

I want to split long words in the "description" column. I modified the columns_api.php like that :
function print_column_description( BugData $p_bug, $p_columns_target = COLUMNS_TARGET_VIEW_PAGE ) {
$t_description = string_display_links( $p_bug->description );
echo '<td class="column-description">' . string_nl2br($t_description) . '</td>';
... but it just duplicates blank lines in the column ! the wrap doesn't work
I specified a $p_wrap = 10 and the "wrap_in_preformatted_text" is ON in the "config_defaults_inc.php" file.
What I'm missing ??
