[android] Multiline TextView in Android?

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?

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"
/>

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", "<br>")
textView.setText(Html.fromHtml(Html.fromHtml(text).toString()))

This works perfectly.

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.

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

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"/>

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.

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.

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.

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.

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>

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"/> 

you can use android:inputType="textMultiLine"

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

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);
    }

The best answer I found for multiline TextView is:

android:inputType="textMultiLine"

I used:

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

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

TextView is used to display text on Android application. By default, TextView displays text on one line and if long, TextView will automatically display with more lines to display its text in the most logical way.

Android developers can create a new line on TextView both in programming and syntax. Android developers can create multi-line TextView without dividing text into multiple lines according to android: minLines properties. Create layout.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

    android:layout_width="match_parent"

    android:layout_height="match_parent"

    android:orientation="vertical">

    <TextView

        android:id="@+id/text_view1"

        android:layout_width="match_parent"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:textSize="30sp"

        android:background="#DA70D6"

        android:text="This is line 1 \nThis is line 2 \nLine number 3"

        />



    <TextView

        android:id="@+id/text_view2"

        android:layout_width="match_parent"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:textSize="30sp"

        android:background="#DEB887"

        android:text="This is line 1 \nThis is line 2 \nLine number 3"

        android:maxLines="2"

        />



    <TextView

        android:id="@+id/text_view3"

        android:layout_width="match_parent"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:textSize="30sp"

        android:background="#8FBC8F"

        android:text="This is line 1 \nThis is line 2"

        android:minLines="3"

        />



    <TextView

        android:id="@+id/text_view4"

        android:layout_width="match_parent"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:textSize="30sp"

        android:background="#5F9EA0"

        android:text="@string/Multiline_Text_By_N"

        />

</LinearLayout>

Add string in file string.xml

<string name="Multiline_Text_By_N">

        Line number 1 \nLine number 2

    </string>

Source: https://code-android-example.blogspot.com/2020/11/android-textview-multiline-example.html

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.

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 :)

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>

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)