How do I reduce the inner padding around the text within an Android button object?

Question

Example buttons

So, at the moment I have a button which looks like the first image above. How do I reduce the padding around the text inside the button itself (To look more like the second image)?

Layout width and height is set as:

android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"

The custom style shape has parameters"

<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle" android:padding="10dp">

With the rest just being color attributes and radii values.

Just to make it clear, I want the frame of the button to hug the "Login" text closer.

All help and feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

That relates to the outer padding of the Button. I'm referring to the internal padding of "login" and its container. Thanks though. — Imran NZ, May 06 '13 at 08:48
overriding the padding works for me. textView.setPadding(0,0,0,0); — M. Usman Khan, May 09 '16 at 10:30
Put android:minHeight="0dp" android:minWidth="0dp" in the button. This should work.. — viper, Oct 05 '17 at 04:08
This helped me - https://stackoverflow.com/a/19227057/3325759 (author - @StinePike) From the answer - Add `android:includeFontPadding="false"` — Mikelis Kaneps, Oct 14 '15 at 11:13
Right question, wrong answer. This does not work. android:minHeight="0dp" android:minWidth="0dp" works. That said your answer does remove a tiny tiny sliver, but the min height/width is the clear winner. — StarWind0, Jun 01 '18 at 20:05

score 259 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 01 '22 at 20:14

259

It took me forever to find this but the "padding" around the text in a button isn't really padding at all. The default Widget.Button style includes a minHeight property. Changing minHeight on the button will allow you to adjust padding as expected.

<Button
        android:id="@+id/header"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/test"
        android:textColor="@color/black"
        android:minHeight="40dip"/>


<style name="Widget.Holo.Button" parent="Widget.Button">
    <item name="android:background">@android:drawable/btn_default_holo_dark</item>
    <item name="android:textAppearance">?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium</item>
    <item name="android:textColor">@android:color/primary_text_holo_dark</item>
    <item name="android:minHeight">48dip</item>
    <item name="android:minWidth">64dip</item>
</style>

edited Jul 01 '22 at 20:14

Boken

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answered Oct 10 '13 at 16:01

Steven

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I was facing a similar problem with the width. Setting android:minWidth="0dp" worked, but then on buttons with long text, I required android:paddingRight and android:paddingLeft to be set to prevent poor layout. – Simon Featherstone Jun 22 '16 at 09:28
My Widget.Button has no minHeight (sdk28) – ror Apr 24 '19 at 19:32
The property is on the theme button, not the parent "Widget.Button". If you are using a different theme than "holo" it may be in a different location. Here are the styles for "holo" https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/core/res/res/values/styles_holo.xml – Steven Apr 26 '19 at 17:58
1

it still has padding with `MaterialButton`, height has nothing to do, if you set `height` 48dp and `minHeight` 48dp you still will see padding, button background height will be smaller than 48dp – user924 Dec 30 '20 at 12:32
1

it's insets `android:insetTop="0dp" android:insetBottom="0dp"`, then it will finally remove padding and background button height will be 48dp – user924 Dec 30 '20 at 12:34

score 22 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 04 '20 at 07:18

In the Material Components Library, the MaterialButton has a default style with insetBottom and insetTop with a value of 6dp.

You can change them in the layout:

  <com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton
      android:insetTop="0dp"
      android:insetBottom="0dp"
      ../>

or in a style:

 <style name="Button_no_insets" parent="Widget.MaterialComponents.Button"..>
    <item name="android:insetTop">0dp</item>
    <item name="android:insetBottom">0dp</item>
 </style>

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered May 06 '13 at 11:24

5

try this in your custom shape.xml file

<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:paddingRight="10dp"
android:paddingTop="1dp"
android:padding="1dp">

also you can make change in your button's xml

android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"

answered May 06 '13 at 11:24

Qadir Hussain

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This doesn't work at all if you read what the original question is asking – Jeremy Nov 18 '15 at 05:31

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered May 06 '13 at 08:10

3

If you want a smaller top and bottom padding, use this:

 android:paddingTop="2dp"
 android:paddingBottom="2dp"

answered May 06 '13 at 08:10

Neoh

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That's for the padding outside the button. The effect I'm after is to get the Button frame to hug the "Login" text closer. Thanks. – Imran NZ May 06 '13 at 08:50
1

That is already the inner padding of the button. You may need to check if you have added lines like `android:padding` or `android:layout_margin"` in the parent views of ``. – Neoh May 06 '13 at 09:24

mrr7997 · Answer 5 · 2023-04-05T03:41:56.907

1

For me, need to set all below for the button property

minWidth 
minHeight
paddingHorizontal
paddingVertical
layout wrap_content


  android:paddingVertical="0dp"
  android:paddingHorizontal="0dp"
  android:minHeight="0dp"
  android:minWidth="0dp"
  android:layout_width="wrap_content"

this will remove all spaces between text and border of button and border(if used) will be around the text without any space.

edited Apr 05 '23 at 03:41

answered Apr 01 '22 at 16:42

mrr7997

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3

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As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Apr 01 '22 at 17:38

Shihab Uddin · Answer 6 · 2021-07-26T09:43:01.460

Update: If you want to use Material Button: >

You can use style="@style/Widget.MaterialComponents.Button.TextButton" attribute, set insetTop & insetBottom to 0dp. Also set app:cornerRadius="0dp" to get same result of my given picture.

  <com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton
        android:id="@+id/btnAddMorePassenger"
        style="@style/Widget.MaterialComponents.Button.TextButton"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:backgroundTint="@color/primary_variant"
        android:insetTop="0dp"
        android:insetBottom="0dp"
        android:text="@string/add_passenger"
        android:textColor="@color/light"
        android:visibility="visible"
        app:cornerRadius="0dp"
        app:icon="@drawable/ic_profile_24dp"
        app:iconGravity="textStart"
        app:iconTint="@color/light"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/toolbar"
        tools:visibility="visible" />

You can use Borderless style in AppCompatButton like below. Also use background color your preferred.

Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless.Colored

Button code

<androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatButton
        android:id="@+id/button_visa_next"
        android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
        style="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Button.Borderless.Colored"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/spacing_normal"
        android:text="@string/next"
        android:textColor="@color/white"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent" />

Output:

How do I reduce the inner padding around the text within an Android button object?

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