How can I show ellipses on my TextView if it is greater than the 1 line?

Question

I have the following Layout which does not work:

<LinearLayout 
    android:orientation="horizontal" 
    android:layout_width="match_parent" 
    android:id="@+id/experienceLayout" 
    android:background="#ffffff" 
    android:layout_height="match_parent" 
    android:paddingLeft="6dp" 
    android:paddingRight="6dp" 
    android:paddingBottom="6dp" 
    android:paddingTop="6dp">

    <TextView 
        android:layout_weight="1" 
        android:id="@+id/experienceLabel" 
        android:text="Experience" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:textColor="#000000" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:textStyle="bold">
    </TextView>

    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/experienceTextView" 
        android:text="TextView" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:textColor="#000000" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
        android:ellipsize="end" 
        android:lines="1" 
        android:maxLines="1" 
        android:singleLine="true" 
        android:fadeScrollbars="false">
    </TextView>

</LinearLayout>

BonanzaDriver · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14T14:35:39.323

339

This is a common problem. Try using the following:

android:scrollHorizontally="true"
android:ellipsize="end" 
android:maxLines="1"

.............. the scrollHorizontally is the "special sauce" that makes it work.

edited Jul 14 '15 at 14:35

answered Jun 18 '11 at 03:48

BonanzaDriver

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Strange... I tried `android:scrollHorizontally="true"` but it didn't work, I had to use the deprecated attribute `android:singleLine="true"`. – Gerardo Contijoch Jul 12 '12 at 18:55
1

yes `scrollHorizontally` is the actual key to `...` – Rishabh Dutt Sharma Jan 10 '17 at 07:37
2

scrollHorizontally? obviously i don't want a horizontal scroll effect. – filthy_wizard Feb 08 '17 at 09:15
1

@user1232726: Yes, "scroll horizontally." As a matter of common sense, take a look at the date of the question and the date of the responses ... goes without saying that neither might be currently relavant (before commenting). – BonanzaDriver Feb 08 '17 at 19:47
Using ellipsize with maxLines might crash the app - Report from Android Studio intellisense – Vaishnav Mhetre Nov 05 '18 at 06:21
1

@VaishnavMhetre I just implement the solution above and has no crash at all. – Chen Li Yong Jul 05 '19 at 08:38
1

Works without scrollHorizontally property. – jegadeesh Apr 12 '20 at 05:52

score 38 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 21 '12 at 10:22

38

This will also make a single line with ellipsise

 android:singleLine="true"

answered Dec 21 '12 at 10:22

Atul Bhardwaj

6,647
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16

This is deprecated apparently – Oliver Pearmain Mar 05 '14 at 16:03
1

This one better breaks long words. – bpiec Apr 13 '15 at 20:13
android:maxLines="1" – Jaydev Apr 08 '17 at 13:06
1

@grebulon It is deprecated. At least now. – Spikatrix Jun 17 '18 at 08:07

score 25 · Answer 3 · edited May 13 '18 at 06:14

25

Use this

android:ellipsize="end"  
android:singleLine="true"

Don't use this without fully aware of what output comes

android:ellipsize="end"  
android:maxLines="1"

When you use maxlines = 1 it will some time truncate most of the characters.

edited May 13 '18 at 06:14

Paul Chu

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answered Feb 22 '16 at 15:26

Mohamed Ibrahim

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Marilia · Answer 4 · 2016-09-06T19:10:03.057

18

The way it worked for me on multiple devices / APIs was programmatically like this (where tv is your TextView):

    if (tv.getLineCount() > 1) {
        int lineEndIndex = tv.getLayout().getLineEnd(0);
        String text = tv.getText().subSequence(0, lineEndIndex - 3) + "\u2026";
        tv.setText(text);
    }

edited Sep 06 '16 at 19:10

answered Sep 18 '15 at 21:30

Marilia

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This is the most helpful answer of all... works on every single API and can be easily convert it as a Utils library. – Mariano Zorrilla Sep 22 '15 at 15:49
1

You should use the ellipsis character `\u2026` instead of the three `.` characters – Chris Stillwell Sep 05 '16 at 19:38
You are right @ChrisStillwell and I do use the ellipsis character in my code. I've edited the answer, thank you. :) – Marilia Sep 06 '16 at 19:23

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 24 '19 at 04:34

4

So all the answers above cater to the requirement that only 1 line and then the ellipsis should appear. However if you want the ellipsis to appear after certain lines of text, then you should use the following:

android:ellipsize="end"
android:maxLines="2"
android:singleLine="false"

With this the ellipsis will appear only after 2 lines. Note: Its important to have singleLine as false.

answered Jan 24 '19 at 04:34

SDK4551

109
6

The default value is false according to the documentation: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/TextView#attr_android:singleLine – Pierre Mar 06 '19 at 06:59

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 04 '19 at 12:55

3

This helped me out:

android:ellipsize="end"
android:maxLines="1"
android:singleLine="true"

Make sure the TextView width is set to Match_Parent

https://github.com/chrisjenx/Calligraphy/issues/43#issuecomment-523701518

edited Sep 04 '19 at 12:55

Kiran Maniya

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answered Sep 03 '19 at 19:15

Edward Motloung

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score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 31 '20 at 19:59

2

android:singleLine is deprecated. In my case, I had to get a fixed height for the TextView and I used the android:lines attribute instead of android:maxLines. I thought this might help someone having the same problem as mine.

android:ellipsize="end"
android:lines="2"

answered Jan 31 '20 at 19:59

Reaz Murshed

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Not true. Documentation doesn't say anything about deprecation: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/TextView#attr_android:singleLine – cesards Apr 15 '20 at 01:19
1

@cesards Interesting. This document says that it is - https://developer.android.com/reference/android/R.attr.html#singleLine – Reaz Murshed Apr 15 '20 at 01:24
1

@cesards, According to Android in Code documentation: This (android:singleLine) attribute is deprecated. Use maxLines instead to change the layout of a static text, and use the textMultiLine flag in the inputType attribute instead for editable text views (if both singleLine and inputType are supplied, the inputType flags will override the value of singleLine). – Neckster Oct 25 '21 at 13:35

How can I show ellipses on my TextView if it is greater than the 1 line?

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