Prevent enter key on EditText but still show the text as multi-line

Question

How do I make an EditText on Android such that the user may not enter a multi-line text, but the display is still multi-line (i.e. there is word-wrap instead of the text going over to the right)?

It's similar to the built-in SMS application where we can't input newline but the text is displayed in multiple lines.

just add android:inputType="textPersonName" to the EditText it will stop it from pressing enter — Zar E Ahmer, May 21 '14 at 11:06

Andreas Rudolph · Answer 1 · 2020-07-06T14:37:20.373

49

This is a method, where you don't have to override the EditText class. You just catch and replace the newlines with empty strings.

edittext.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {

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

}

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

}

public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
    /*
     * The loop is in reverse for a purpose,
     * each replace or delete call on the Editable will cause
     * the afterTextChanged method to be called again.
     * Hence the return statement after the first removal.
     * http://developer.android.com/reference/android/text/TextWatcher.html#afterTextChanged(android.text.Editable)
     */
    for(int i = s.length()-1; i >= 0; i--){
        if(s.charAt(i) == '\n'){
            s.delete(i, i + 1);
            return;
        }
    }
}
});

Credit to Rolf for improvement on an earlier answer.

edited Jul 06 '20 at 14:37

answered May 25 '12 at 09:37

Andreas Rudolph

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+1 This was more useful in my case than the accepted answer, for the simple reason, that I can use it as a default implementation of TextWatcher, which can be expanded by subclasses (Which would then simply call super.afterTextChanged(...) to retain that check for line breaks. Works ! – AgentKnopf Jul 11 '12 at 10:42
1

For-loop condition should be `i > 0` rather than `i >= 0`. When `i == 0`, `s.subSequence(i-1, i)` gets an `IndexOutOfBoundsException`. – TalkLittle Nov 04 '14 at 22:01
2

I think this throws an IndexOutOfBoundsException for text with new line that is copy and pasted in with multiple new line characters. – Chriskot Mar 24 '15 at 00:17
1

@TalkLittle I posted another answer with the correct code, only changing the for loop condition doesn't fix the IndexOufOfBoundsException. See my answer: http://stackoverflow.com/a/36485266/1052697 – Rolf ツ Apr 07 '16 at 19:20

Tony the Pony · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-20T11:11:05.750

49

I would subclass the widget and override the key event handling in order to block the Enter key:

class MyTextView extends EditText
{
    ...
    @Override
    public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event)
    {
        if (keyCode==KeyEvent.KEYCODE_ENTER) 
        {
            // Just ignore the [Enter] key
            return true;
        }
        // Handle all other keys in the default way
        return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
    }
}

edited May 20 '11 at 11:11

answered May 20 '11 at 10:53

Tony the Pony

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Should this line: `return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);` be in onKeyDown or am I imagining? :P – necixy May 20 '11 at 11:04
We both are working for same community. You're welcome jen. :) – necixy May 20 '11 at 11:16
11

Thanks for your answer. (I upped the other answer too). Tip: you can avoid subclassing by just editText.setOnKeyListener(...) and return (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_ENTER). – Randy Sugianto 'Yuku' May 23 '11 at 03:09
2

enter key is still working in nexus with linear layout – Cyph3rCod3r Feb 11 '14 at 04:26
@Dr. aNdRO Which version of Android? – Tony the Pony Feb 11 '14 at 07:45
This didn't worked in case of Google keyboard but worked well for Android default keyboard. When I switch keyboards, different behaviour occurred. – Shubham A. May 30 '16 at 06:07
6

Almost no keyboards actually send key events. Those are meant for hardware keys. They almost all use commitText, which will not call this function. – Gabe Sechan Jun 15 '17 at 20:59

score 23 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 03 '13 at 08:23

23

Property in XML

android:lines="5"
android:inputType="textPersonName"

answered Jul 03 '13 at 08:23

sergey.n

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Thanks, the simplest! Although I noticed it prevented my click listener on the ET from working... so use `editText.setSingleLine(false);` instead if so. – Azurespot May 13 '16 at 07:00
This is totally dependent on the keyboard used. Many will still show an enter key – Gabe Sechan Jun 15 '17 at 21:00

score 14 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 11 '14 at 14:47

14

This one works for me:

<EditText
    android:inputType="textShortMessage|textMultiLine"
    android:minLines="3"
    ... />

It shows a smiley instead of the Enter key.

answered Feb 11 '14 at 14:47

soger

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10
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2

From experience this does not work on every keyboard. A HTC phone we had around still displayed the enter key. – Treeline Mar 18 '15 at 14:38
This is totally dependent on the keyboard used. Many will still show an enter key – Gabe Sechan Jun 15 '17 at 20:59
If you long press on the smiley button in a Nexus 6, then you are still able to add a line break. Thus this is no general solution then. – Elementary Nov 09 '17 at 17:04

score 9 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 03 '18 at 06:17

Here's a more correct answer that does not display the enter key on the IME keyboard:

// IMPORTANT, do this before any of the code following it
myEditText.setSingleLine(true);

// IMPORTANT, to allow wrapping
myEditText.setHorizontallyScrolling(false);
// IMPORTANT, or else your edit text would wrap but not expand to multiple lines
myEditText.setMaxLines(6);

Also, you may replace setSingleLine(true) with either, an explicit android:inputType on the XML layout file, or setInputType(InputType.*) on code – in which, the input type used, is anything that you know restricts the input to single lines only (i.e., anything that calls setSingleLine(true) implicitly already).

Explanation:

What setSingleLine(true) does is calling setHorizontallyScrolling(true) and setLines(1) implicitly, alongside with altering some IME keyboard settings to disable the enter key.

In turn, the call to setLines(1) is like calling setMinLines(1) and setMaxLines(1) in one call.

Some input types (i.e., the constants from InputType.TYPE_*) calls setSingleLine(true) implicitly, or at least achieves the same effect.

Conclusion:

So to achieve what the OP wants, we simply counter those implicit settings by reverting those implicit calls.

Rolf ツ · Answer 6 · 2017-01-19T07:47:07.620

8

The answer provided by @Andreas Rudolph contains a critical bug and shouldn't be used. The code causes an IndexOutOfBoundsException when you past text inside the EditText which contains multiple new-line characters. This is caused by the type of loop which is used, the Editable object will call the afterTextChanged method as soon as its contents change (replace, delete, insert).

Correct code:

edittext.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {

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

    }

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

    }

    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
        /*
         * The loop is in reverse for a purpose,
         * each replace or delete call on the Editable will cause
         * the afterTextChanged method to be called again.
         * Hence the return statement after the first removal.
         * http://developer.android.com/reference/android/text/TextWatcher.html#afterTextChanged(android.text.Editable)
         */
        for(int i = s.length()-1; i >= 0; i--){
            if(s.charAt(i) == '\n'){
                s.delete(i, i + 1);
                return;
            }
        }
    }
});

edited Jan 19 '17 at 07:47

answered Apr 07 '16 at 19:18

Rolf ツ

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You should have edited the answer, instead of making a new one. – Robert Martin Dec 14 '16 at 19:47
@RobertMartin I was wondering this myself and asked for help on the Meta website, they suggested that I should post a new answer. Because the changes I would have made conflicted with the author's original intends. – Rolf ツ Dec 14 '16 at 20:04
1

Nice! However, if you start by hitting the Enter key you'll still have a new line at the beginning (so `i>=0` should work) ^^ – Blo Jan 18 '17 at 22:13
Nice Solution. For someone looking for code in Kotlin : for (i in s.length - 1 downTo 0) { if(s[i] == '\n') { s.delete(i, i + 1) return } } – Annsh Singh Sep 27 '19 at 07:08
I took this answer and replaced my old one with it. – Andreas Rudolph Jul 02 '20 at 10:46
@AndreasRudolph maybe add a small credit in your answer as well? – Rolf ツ Jul 06 '20 at 12:36
1

Done @Rolfツ! Thanks for the improvement – Andreas Rudolph Jul 06 '20 at 14:38

score 5 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 26 '14 at 03:17

5

I'm testing this and it seems to work:

EditText editText = new EditText(context);
editText.setSingleLine(false);
editText.setInputType(android.text.InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT | android.text.InputType.TYPE_TEXT_VARIATION_EMAIL_SUBJECT);

edited Apr 26 '14 at 03:17

broschb

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answered Nov 07 '12 at 21:53

Juan Carlos

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Awesome thanks. Setting anything in the XML was disabling my ET click listeners... so doing it this way did not! The return key on the keyboard changes into a "Done" button. (I only needed the `editText.setSingleLine(false);`). – Azurespot May 13 '16 at 06:59
This is totally dependent on the keyboard used. Many will still show an enter key – Gabe Sechan Jun 15 '17 at 21:01

score 5 · Answer 8 · edited Apr 07 '16 at 18:31

5

Try this:

@Override
public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_ENTER)
    {
        //Nothing
        return true;
    }
    return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
}

edited Apr 07 '16 at 18:31

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 20 '11 at 10:55

Niranj Patel

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No. This constrains the edit to a single line. The OP wants multiple lines; he just doesn't want the user to be able to enter line breaks. – Tony the Pony May 20 '11 at 10:59
Almost no keyboards actually send key events. Those are meant for hardware keys. They almost all use commitText, which will not call this function. – Gabe Sechan Jun 15 '17 at 21:00

score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 03 '15 at 12:04

3

You can set it from the xml like this:

android:imeOptions="actionDone"
android:inputType="text"
android:maxLines="10"

don't forget android:inputType="text", if you don't set it, it doesn't work. I don't know why though. Also don't forget to change maxLines to your preferred value.

answered Jul 03 '15 at 12:04

Buddy

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This is totally dependent on the keyboard used. Many will still show an enter key – Gabe Sechan Jun 15 '17 at 21:01

score 3 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 18 '16 at 14:24

3

Simply add

        android:singleLine="true"

to your EditText

answered Jan 18 '16 at 14:24

Royce Raju Beena

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This is deprecated! – Blasco73 May 17 '17 at 17:15

score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Sep 12 '18 at 09:41

2

Here is the solution....

<EditText
   android:id="@+id/editText"
   android:layout_width="match_parent"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:maxLength="150"                                 
   android:textSize="15dp"
   android:imeOptions="actionDone"
   android:inputType="text|textMultiLine"/>

Usage in java class

editText.setOnKeyListener(new View.OnKeyListener() {
        @Override
        public boolean onKey(View view, int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {

            if (keyCode==KeyEvent.KEYCODE_ENTER)
            {
                // Just ignore the [Enter] key
                return true;
            }
            // Handle all other keys in the default way
            return (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_ENTER);
        }
    });

edited Sep 12 '18 at 09:41

Quick learner

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answered Sep 12 '18 at 08:19

priyanka

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Welcome to SO. Thanks for your answer. Could you format it properly, please, e.g. by seperating text and code part as `Here is the solution...`? Some more background information is also helpful. Thanks. – CKE Sep 12 '18 at 08:49
You already return `true` when `keyCode==KeyEvent.KEYCODE_ENTER`. So, next will return `false`. – CoolMind Jun 10 '21 at 12:22

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Apr 09 '14 at 21:06

The accepted answer worked so well until I copied text with line-breaks into into the EditText. So I added onTextContextMenuItem to monitor the paste action.

@Override
public boolean onTextContextMenuItem(int id) {
    boolean ret = super.onTextContextMenuItem(id);
    switch (id) {
        case android.R.id.paste:
            onTextPaste();
            break;
    }
    return ret;
}

public void onTextPaste() {
    if (getText() == null)
        return;
    String text = getText().toString();
    text = text.replaceAll(System.getProperty("line.separator"), " ");
    text = text.replaceAll("\\s+", " ");
    setText(text);
}

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Dec 17 '18 at 20:55

1

You can change the action button from code

editText.imeOptions = EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_DONE
editText.setRawInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT)

Xml

android:inputType="textMultiLine"

answered Dec 17 '18 at 20:55

Ali Hasan

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score 0 · Answer 14 · edited Apr 07 '16 at 18:35

0

For a URI you could use:

android:inputType="textUri"
android:lines="1"
android:maxLength="128"

Otherwise android:inputType="textPersonName" as mentioned above works for other EditText such user name, etc.

edited Apr 07 '16 at 18:35

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 22 '13 at 21:43

farid_z

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score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Nov 12 '13 at 07:02

<EditText 
  android:id="@+id/Msg"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"              
  android:layout_marginTop="5dip"
  android:lines="5"
  android:selectAllOnFocus="true"               
  android:hint="Skriv meddelande...\n(max 100tkn)"/>


EditText et = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.Msg);
String strTmp = et.getText().toString();
strTmp = strTmp.replaceAll("\\n"," ");

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Jul 09 '14 at 09:19

    EditText textView = new EditText(activity);
    ...
    textView.setOnEditorActionListener(new TextView.OnEditorActionListener() {
        @Override
        public boolean onEditorAction(TextView textView, int i, KeyEvent keyEvent) {
            if(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_ENTER == keyEvent.getKeyCode()) {
                return false;
            }
            ....... 

        }
    });

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Jul 13 '18 at 07:23

I will give another option so you don't have to subclass EditText. Create an InputFilter that filters out linebreaks. Then use EditText.addInputFilter.

Source code for such an input filter is here: https://gist.github.com/CapnSpellcheck/7c72830e43927380daf5205100c93977

You can pass 0 in the constructor, and it won't allow any newlines. Also, you can combine this with one of the other tweaks such as android:imeOptions="actionDone", as this will help improve the experience on some devices.

score -1 · Answer 18 · answered Dec 11 '12 at 11:25

-1

Adding this property to the EditText XML works for me:

android:lines="1"

It lets the users input newline characters but the EditText itself does not increase in height.

answered Dec 11 '12 at 11:25

Matthew Quiros

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Prevent enter key on EditText but still show the text as multi-line

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