Android layout - align text to right if one line, otherwise align to left

Question

How do I align text to the right if it is only one line, but otherwise align to the left (so that new lines start from the left, not right)? Is it possible to do it in the xml (non-programatically)?

What I want:

What I have:

Code:

<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout 
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/label"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        tools:text="Label" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/content"   
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@id/label"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="@id/label"
        tools:text="Lorem ipsum" />
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

I think this [question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4005933/how-do-i-tell-if-my-textview-has-been-ellipsized) could help you. — TheLibrarian, Nov 02 '22 at 12:36
@AmmarAbdullah No, 2. I edited the question to better show images. There are two cases shown: one and mulit-line textviews — suue, Nov 02 '22 at 12:42

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 03 '22 at 07:04

To achieve this behaviour you need to have the properties layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="1", layout_constrainedWidth="true" and layout_width="wrap_content" into the content (@+id/content) TextView.

Xml Layout:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/label"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        tools:text="Label" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/content"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="10dp"
        app:layout_constrainedWidth="true"
        app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="1"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@id/label"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        tools:text="Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua." />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Small content text:

Long content text:

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 03 '22 at 05:03

Try this

            <TextView
               android:layout_width="wrap_content"
               android:layout_height="wrap_content"
               android:gravity="start"
               android:layout_gravity="end"
               android:text="Lorem ipsum" />

Android layout - align text to right if one line, otherwise align to left

2 Answers2