Multiline TextView in Android?

Question

I did like below in xml

<TableRow>
    <TextView android:id="@+id/address1"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="left"
        android:maxLines="4" 
        android:singleLine="false"              
        android:text="Johar Mor, Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi" >
    </TextView> 
</TableRow>

It is not working for multiline, and I am using TableLayout...

so what is mistake I am doing here?

score 213 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 27 '18 at 10:37

If the text you're putting in the TextView is short, it will not automatically expand to four lines. If you want the TextView to always have four lines regardless of the length of the text in it, set the android:lines attribute:

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/address1"
    android:gravity="left"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:maxLines="4"
    android:lines="4"
    android:text="Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat."></TextView>

You can do this with TableRow, see below code

<TableRow >
        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tv_description_heading"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:gravity="left"
            android:padding="8dp"
            android:text="@string/rating_review"
            android:textColor="@color/black"
            android:textStyle="bold" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tv_description"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:gravity="left"
            android:maxLines="4"`enter code here`
            android:padding="8dp"
            android:text="The food test was very good."
            android:textColor="@color/black"
            android:textColorHint="@color/hint_text_color" />
    </TableRow>

The OP **didn't** "want the TextView to always have four lines regardless of the length of the text in it". — tar, Jun 04 '14 at 08:41
This answer worked for me. But I got the best results, not with maxlines and lines, but with maxlines and minlines and did not use lines. I set minlines to 1 and maxlines bigger than the biggest data. That way I get 1 to N lines for a compact view of the data. — R Earle Harris, Nov 15 '14 at 13:47
@REarleHarris : I too tried the same solution but the problem is it is not taking maxLines count. All data are displayed in minLines count. What can I try now I am using custom textview in the xml — Sagar Devanga, Aug 22 '15 at 11:21

score 136 · Answer 2 · edited May 04 '19 at 20:45

136

I just thought I'd add that if you use :

android:inputType="textMultiLine"

Then the view stops being clickable. I was trying to get multi line textviews in my slide-drawer menu which obviously needs to respond to clicks.

The android:singleLine="false" worked fine though.

edited May 04 '19 at 20:45

Jean-François Fabre

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answered Jan 27 '15 at 13:05

Ryan

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This isn't precisely correct as Android's own lint errors suggest that you only use this attribute with EditText and not TextView. – Jared Mar 14 '16 at 17:24
1

Are you referring to the textMultiline? I said *not* to use that. singleLine is fine on TextViews: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/TextView.html#attr_android:singleLine – Ryan Mar 15 '16 at 16:00
4

android:singleLine is deprecated now – Humberto Castañeda Dec 21 '16 at 15:44
Are you sure? It doesn't mention that in the docs I link to in the above comment, although I just saw it is marked as such in the res docs. Strange they don't mention that on the TextView page . The trouble is that the workaround they suggest (multiline) stops the view being clickable as I put in my OP. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/R.attr.html#singleLine – Ryan Dec 22 '16 at 16:52
3

android:singleLine="false" is deprecated as it's the default value – Ashraf Alshahawy Sep 21 '17 at 04:14
@AshrafAlshahawy that's only correct if you don't specify an input type according to the docs. It was a while ago that I made this post, but at that point I certainly had to manually set it to get the desired behaviour (and judging by the fact this is still being upvoted years later, other people have too). Weird huh. Maybe I did set an input type but it's a TextView, not an EditText and I was using it in a menu, so I doubt it. – Ryan Oct 10 '17 at 14:59
Android Guys are fake. Why cant they put that feature ? – henrybbosa Oct 27 '17 at 13:58

Maragues · Answer 3 · 2013-12-05T10:57:53.107

31

I like neither of the answers. Simply set the inputType and the TextView will adapt to its content

<TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:inputType="textMultiLine"/>

Tested on a Nexus One (2.3) and Nexus 4 (4.4)

edited Dec 05 '13 at 10:57

answered Dec 05 '13 at 10:25

Maragues

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android:inputType="textMultiLine" is not for TextView, its for EditText and you get a warning if you try doing this – bhaskarc Apr 12 '14 at 10:46
2

You should listen to the warnings. Use @Ryans solution. – m02ph3u5 Mar 11 '16 at 10:31

score 21 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 08 '15 at 06:03

21

Simply put '\n' inside your text... no extra attribute required :)

          <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
            android:text="Pigeon\nControl\nServices"
            android:id="@+id/textView5"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:paddingLeft="12dp"/>

answered Aug 08 '15 at 06:03

Naunidh Singh

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this solution cannot be used for setting text dynamically – Sagar Devanga Aug 22 '15 at 11:01
@SagarDevanga What does it mean to set text dynamically? – juil May 25 '16 at 05:56
4

@SagarDevanga, I have just checked, a dynamic and static texts are multilined by default (if use `\n`), so it's a right solution. No `singleLine=false`, no `lines=4` and so on. – CoolMind Aug 18 '16 at 19:47

score 11 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 01 '14 at 10:53

Just add textview in ScrollView

<ScrollView
           android:layout_width="fill_parent"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
           android:layout_weight="1"
           android:layout_marginLeft="15dp"
           android:layout_marginRight="15dp"
           android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
           android:fillViewport="true">

           <TextView
               android:id="@+id/txtquestion"
               android:layout_width="fill_parent"
               android:layout_height="match_parent"
               android:background="@drawable/abs__dialog_full_holo_light"
               android:lines="20"
               android:scrollHorizontally="false"
               android:scrollbars="vertical"
               android:textSize="15sp" />

       </ScrollView>

score 8 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 17 '17 at 09:42

What I learned was to add "\n" in between the words where you want it to brake into the next line. For example...

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/time"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:textAlignment="center"
    android:text="M-F 9am-5pm \n By Appointment Only" />

The \n between 5pm and By allowed me more control of where I wanted my my next line to begin and end.

Khalil Meg · Answer 7 · 2017-10-28T10:58:38.943

Try to work with EditText by make it unclickable and unfocusable, also you can display a scrollbar and delete the EditText's underbar.
Here is an example:

<EditText
android:id="@+id/my_edit_text"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_parent"
android:inputType="textMultiLine"                   <!-- multiline -->
android:clickable="false"                         <!-- unclickable -->
android:focusable="false"                         <!-- unfocusable -->
android:scrollbars="vertical"     <!-- enable scrolling vertically -->
android:background="@android:color/transparent"   <!-- hide the underbar of EditText -->
/>

Hope this helps :)

score 5 · Answer 8 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

5

I do not like the solution that forces the number of lines in the text view. I rather suggest you solve it via the solution proposed here. As I see the OP is also struggling with making text view look like proper in table and shrinkColumns is the correct directive to pass in to achieve what is wanted.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

Community

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answered Nov 15 '12 at 17:43

Boris Strandjev

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score 3 · Answer 9 · edited Sep 19 '17 at 07:05

3

First replace "\n" with its Html equavalent "<br>" then call Html.fromHtml() on the string. Follow below steps:

String text= model.getMessageBody().toString().replace("\n", "&lt;br&gt;")
textView.setText(Html.fromHtml(Html.fromHtml(text).toString()))

This works perfectly.

edited Sep 19 '17 at 07:05

Satan Pandeya

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answered Sep 19 '17 at 06:52

Gulzar Bhat

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Enakhi · Answer 10 · 2022-12-18T01:14:56.447

if you want to have at least 4 lines add android:minLines="4"

<TextView android:id="@+id/address1"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:gravity="left"
    android:minLines="4"
    android:text="Johar Mor, Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi" />

if you want to have always 4 lines add android:lines="4"

<TextView android:id="@+id/address1"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:gravity="left"
    android:lines="4"
    android:text="Johar Mor, Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi" />

and if you want to have a maximum of 4 lines add android:maxLines="4"

<TextView android:id="@+id/address1"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:gravity="left"
    android:maxLines="4"
    android:text="Johar Mor, Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi" />

This is shown as a warning. Not meant to be used for TextView — Stealth Rabbi, Dec 05 '19 at 14:55

score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Jun 15 '17 at 14:37

2

The best answer I found for multiline TextView is:

android:inputType="textMultiLine"

edited Jun 15 '17 at 14:37

Eric Aya

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answered Jun 15 '17 at 14:05

Bhuvan Bhatt

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Isn't `android:inputType` an attribute for `` not for ``? – timtim Sep 06 '17 at 08:08
A warning appear if you add this attribute to a TextView. - Attributed android:inputType="textMultiLine" should not be used with . Actually this attribute is for EditText. – Yhondri Aug 28 '19 at 07:55

score 2 · Answer 12 · answered Jun 28 '20 at 11:23

Simplest Way

<TableRow>
    <TextView android:id="@+id/address1"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="left"
        android:maxLines="4" 
        android:singleLine="false"              
        android:text="Johar Mor,\n Gulistan-e-Johar,\n Karachi" >
    </TextView> 
</TableRow>

Use \n where you want to insert a new line Hopefully it will help you

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Sep 10 '14 at 11:09

1

I used:

TableLayout tablelayout = (TableLayout) view.findViewById(R.id.table);
tablelayout.setColumnShrinkable(1,true);

it worked for me. 1 is the number of column.

answered Sep 10 '14 at 11:09

Susana Mar Flores

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score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Jul 20 '20 at 18:45

The key is a Textview with singleline=false (which yes is deprecated, but is a must have to work) combined with lines, maxlinesor minlines

<TextView
                android:id="@+id/txtBowlers"
                style="@style/Default_TextBox.Small"
                android:layout_width="0dp"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_marginTop="4dp"
                android:singleLine="false"
                android:maxLines="6"
                android:text="Bob\nSally\nJohn"
                app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
                app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.0"
                app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="@+id/txtTeamName"
                app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/txtTeamName"/>

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Oct 20 '20 at 09:06

1

I hope these answers are little bit old, just change the input type in resource layout file will solve your problem. For example:

<EditText
        android:id="@+id/notesInput"
        android:hint="Notes"
        android:inputType="textMultiLine"
/>

answered Oct 20 '20 at 09:06

Aathil Ahamed

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score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Apr 27 '18 at 10:12

You can do this with TableRow, see below code

<TableRow >
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tv_description_heading"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="left"
        android:padding="8dp"
        android:text="@string/rating_review"
        android:textColor="@color/black"
        android:textStyle="bold" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tv_description"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="left"
        android:maxLines="4"`enter code here`
        android:padding="8dp"
        android:text="The food test was very good."
        android:textColor="@color/black"
        android:textColorHint="@color/hint_text_color" />
</TableRow>

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Jan 26 '21 at 18:40

0

Below code can work for Single line and Multi-line textview

isMultiLine = If true then Textview showing with Multi-line otherwise single line

    if (isMultiLine) {
        textView.setElegantTextHeight(true);
        textView.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_TEXT_FLAG_MULTI_LINE);
        textView.setSingleLine(false);
        
    } else {
        textView.setSingleLine(true);
        textView.setEllipsize(TextUtils.TruncateAt.END);
    }

answered Jan 26 '21 at 18:40

Pratik Dodiya

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You need to set the input type on a TextView, even if it's not an EditText? – LarsH Sep 17 '21 at 16:22

score -1 · Answer 18 · answered Sep 24 '16 at 03:23

Why don't you declare a string instead of writing a long lines into the layout file. For this you have to declare a line of code into layout file 'android:text="@string/text"' and go to the \\app\src\main\res\values\strings.xml and add a line of code ' Your multiline text here' Also use '\n' to break the line from any point else the line will automatically be adjusted.

score -1 · Answer 19 · answered Mar 01 '22 at 09:34

no need to add anything just use "\n" at the points where you want to change the lines e.g

<TextView android:id="@+id/kyc_verify_textbox"

    android:layout_width="370dp"
    android:layout_height="99dp"
    android:layout_marginTop="6dp"
    android:layout_marginBottom="13dp"

    android:text="For KYC verification, \n please submit: \n 1 RC photo \n 2 Truck Owner Details \n Note:Both are mandatory for KYC verification"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/divider2"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/divider" />

score -4 · Answer 20 · answered Jan 23 '18 at 11:25

for me non of the solutions did not work. I know it is not a complete answer for this question, but sometimes it can help.

I put 4 textviews in a vertical linearlayout.

<Linearlayout
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation:"vertical"

    ...>
    <TextView
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:text:"line1"
       .../>
    <TextView
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:text:"line2"
       .../>
    <TextView
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:text:"line3"
       .../>
    <TextView
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:text:"line4"
       .../>
</LinearLayout>

This solution is good for cases that the text view text is constant, like labels.

1

Please don't do this. – humble_wolf May 07 '19 at 10:47

Rasel · Answer 21 · 2015-07-05T06:22:26.703

-24

TextView will be multi line when it wont get enough space to fit in the single line and singLine not set to true.

If it gets the space in one line it wont be multi line.

edited Jul 05 '15 at 06:22

answered Jul 13 '11 at 05:59

Rasel

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What if I want to use fill_parent instead of fixed width? My content is cut, if I do so... – happyhardik Sep 13 '12 at 11:59
6

I'll try `android:singleLine="false"` or `android:inputType="textMultiLine"`(as described by Marageus).Notice that `android:inputType="textMultiLine"` takes precedence when both are present – Romantic Electron May 22 '14 at 21:06
Sharing the views of others who commented, this is completely wrong and I'm dumbfounded as to why this is the accepted answer. – Aleks G Nov 11 '15 at 09:12

Multiline TextView in Android?

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