How do you set the max number of characters for an EditText in Android?

Question

How do you set the max number of characters for an Android EditText input? I see setMaxLines, setMaxEMS, but nothing for the number of characters.

Also, the SO answer [here][1] to set the max length dynamically [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/a/4145983/530513 — David O'Meara, Aug 07 '12 at 01:41

score 274 · Answer 1 · edited May 03 '15 at 12:36

274

In XML you can add this line to the EditText View where 140 is the maximum number of characters:

android:maxLength="140"

edited May 03 '15 at 12:36

Joop

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answered Aug 02 '11 at 14:30

Massimo Variolo

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can you lead me how can we achieve this by using the properties tab in the eclipse's xml graphical view? – Nitesh Verma Oct 08 '13 at 06:50
@NiteshVerma in your res/layout xml file put next ' – Shell Scott Sep 19 '15 at 23:13
why it ignore space ? :/ – Nininea Feb 10 '23 at 13:37

goRGon · Answer 2 · 2019-03-06T22:13:59.353

65

Dynamically:

editText.setFilters(new InputFilter[] { new InputFilter.LengthFilter(MAX_NUM) });

Via xml:

<EditText
    android:maxLength="@integer/max_edittext_length"

edited Mar 06 '19 at 22:13

answered May 20 '14 at 22:33

goRGon

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score 45 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 23 '16 at 20:50

45

You can use a InputFilter, that's the way:

EditText myEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.editText1);
InputFilter[] filters = new InputFilter[1];
filters[0] = new InputFilter.LengthFilter(10); //Filter to 10 characters
myEditText .setFilters(filters);

edited Jun 23 '16 at 20:50

Willi Mentzel

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answered Apr 18 '13 at 00:20

Superlandero

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ZooMagic · Answer 4 · 2017-11-27T09:39:19.173

7

I always set the max like this:

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/edit_blaze_it
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="@dimen/too_high"

    <!-- This is the line you need to write to set the max-->
        android:maxLength="420"
        />

edited Nov 27 '17 at 09:39

answered Nov 23 '17 at 12:45

ZooMagic

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score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 25 '14 at 09:59

It is working for me.

    etMsgDescription.setFilters(new InputFilter[] {new InputFilter.LengthFilter(maximum_character)});

    etMsgDescription.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {

        @Override
        public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {

            tvCharacterLimite.setText(" "+String.valueOf(maximum_character - etMsgDescription.getText().length()));
        }

        @Override
        public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count,
                int after) {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub

        }

        @Override
        public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub

        }
    });

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 10 '18 at 11:06

   <EditText
        android:id="@+id/edtName"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="Enter device name"
        android:maxLength="10"
        android:inputType="textFilter"
        android:singleLine="true"/>

InputType has to set "textFilter"

        android:inputType="textFilter"

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 03 '19 at 10:50

use this function anywhere easily:

 public static void setEditTextMaxLength(EditText editText, int length) {
    InputFilter[] FilterArray = new InputFilter[1];
    FilterArray[0] = new InputFilter.LengthFilter(length);
    editText.setFilters(FilterArray);
  }

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 22 '20 at 16:16

1

Kotlin way

editText.filters = arrayOf(InputFilter.LengthFilter(maxLength))

answered Jan 22 '20 at 16:16

Vlad

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score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Feb 21 '18 at 15:13

It worked for me this way, it's the best I've found. It is for a max length of 200 characters

editObservations.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {

    @Override
    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
        if (editObservations.getText().length() >= 201){
                String str = editObservations.getText().toString().substring(0, 200);
                editObservations.setText(str);
                editObservations.setSelection(str.length());
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count,
                                          int after) {
    }

    @Override
    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
    }
});

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 11 '20 at 09:29

Obviously you can use maxLength in xml or InputFilter.LengthFilter as answered above. But for me in some cases, it was not enough. I created a class for more flexible settings of EditText: https://github.com/devapro/NumberWatcher It is implementation only for numbers input, but you can change it for any of the types.

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 30 '20 at 15:17

0

it doesn't work from XML with maxLenght I used this code, you can limit the number of characters

String editorName = mEditorNameNd.getText().toString().substring(0, Math.min(mEditorNameNd.length(), 15));

answered Sep 30 '20 at 15:17

Leo S

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score 0 · Answer 12 · edited Jan 02 '22 at 12:27

0

You could add a validation hook to a submit or change event.

if (EditText.length() <=10){
            Toast.makeText(MainAcitvity.this, "Enter Valid Number", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            contact.setError("Enter Valid");
            return false;
        }

edited Jan 02 '22 at 12:27

f.khantsis

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answered Dec 30 '21 at 09:47

Ahmer Altaf 427

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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Dec 30 '21 at 10:55

How do you set the max number of characters for an EditText in Android?

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