EditText widget in Android with Example

Last Updated : 04 Feb, 2025

Widget refers to the elements of the UI (User Interface) that helps user interacts with the Android App. EditText is one of many such widgets which can be used to retrieve text data from user.

EditText refers to the widget that displays an empty text field in which a user can enter the required text and this text is further used inside our application.

Class Syntax:

public class EditText extends TextView

Class Hierarchy:

java.lang.Object
  ↳android.view.View
     ↳ android.widget.TextView
          ↳ android.widget.EditText

Here the layout can be any layout like Relative, Linear, etc (Refer this article to learn more about layouts). And the attributes can be many among the table given below in this article.

Example:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <LinearLayout     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:id="@+id/main"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent"     tools:context=".MainActivity">      <EditText         android:id="@+id/edit_text"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_width="match_parent"         android:text="GeeksForGeeks" /> </LinearLayout>

How to include a EditText in an Android App?

First of all, Create a new Android app, or take an existing app to edit it. In both the case, there must be an XML layout activity file and a Java class file linked to this activity.
Open the Activity file and include a EditText field in the layout (activity_main.xml) file of the activity and also add a Button in activity_main.xml file too.
Now in the Java file, link this layout file with the below code:

MainActivity.java

@Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {     super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);     setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); }

MainActivity.kt

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {     super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)     setContentView(R.layout.activity_main) }

where activity_main.xml is the name of the layout file to be attached.

Now we will add code in MainActivity file to make our layout interactive or responsive. Our application will generate a toast on clicking the button with the text as entered by user.
The complete code of the layout file and the Java/Kotlin file is given below.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

activity_main.xml:

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <LinearLayout     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:id="@+id/main"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent"     android:background="@color/white"     android:gravity="center"     android:padding="64dp"     android:orientation="vertical"     tools:context=".MainActivity">      <EditText         android:id="@+id/text_view_id"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_width="match_parent"         android:autofillHints="name"         android:inputType="text"         android:hint="Enter your name..." />      <com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton         android:id="@+id/button_id"         android:layout_width="match_parent"         android:layout_height="56dp"         android:layout_marginTop="32dp"         android:text="Submit"         android:textColor="@color/white"         android:backgroundTint="@color/green"/>   </LinearLayout>

Here's the code for the MainActivity:

Java

package org.geeksforgeeks.demo;  import android.os.Bundle; import android.view.View; import android.widget.Button; import android.widget.EditText; import android.widget.Toast; import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;  public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {      // Declare UI elements: EditText for user input and Button for submission     private EditText editText;     private Button button;      @Override     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);          // Link EditText and Button to their UI elements         editText = findViewById(R.id.text_view_id);         button = findViewById(R.id.button_id);          // Set OnClickListener for the button         button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {             @Override             public void onClick(View v) {                 String name = editText.getText().toString();                  // Display a Toast message showing the input text                 Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, name, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();             }         });     } }

Kotlin

package org.geeksforgeeks.demo  import android.os.Bundle import android.widget.Button import android.widget.EditText import android.widget.Toast import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity  class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {      // Declare UI elements: EditText for user input and Button for submission     private lateinit var editText: EditText     private lateinit var button: Button      override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)          // Link the EditText and Button variables to their UI elements in activity_main.xml         editText = findViewById(R.id.text_view_id);         button = findViewById(R.id.button_id);          // Set up an onClickListener for the button to handle click events         button.setOnClickListener {             val name = editText.text.toString();              // Display a short message (Toast) showing a welcome message with the user's input             Toast.makeText(this, name, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()         }     } }

Output:

Upon starting of the App, entering a name in EditText and pressing the "Submit" button, the name in the EditText is then displayed as a Toast:

For learning more about the topic refer to these articles:
Working With the EditText in Android
How to add Mask to an EditText in Android

Some Important XML Attributes of EditText in Android

Attributes	Description
android:id	Used to uniquely identify the control
android:gravity	Used to specify how to align the text like left, right, center, top, etc.
android:hint	Used to display the hint text when text is empty
android:text	Used to set the text of the EditText
android:textSize	Used to set size of the text.
android:textColor	Used to set color of the text.
android:textStyle	Used to set style of the text. For example, bold, italic, bolditalic, etc.
android:textAllCaps	Used this attribute to show the text in capital letters.
android:width	It makes the TextView be exactly this many pixels wide.
android:height	It makes the TextView be exactly this many pixels tall.
android:maxWidth	Used to make the TextView be at most this many pixels wide.
android:minWidth	Used to make the TextView be at least this many pixels wide.
android:background	Used to set background to this View.
android:backgroundTint	Used to set tint to the background of this view.
android:clickable	Used to set true when you want to make this View clickable. Otherwise, set false.
android:drawableBottom	Used to set drawable to bottom of the text in this view.
android:drawableEnd	Used to set drawable to end of the text in this view.
android:drawableLeft	Used to set drawable to left of the text in this view.
android:drawablePadding	Used to set padding to drawable of the view.
android:drawableRight	Used to set drawable to right of the text in this view.
android:drawableStart	Used to set drawable to start of the text in this view.
android:drawableTop	Used to set drawable to top of the text in this view.
android:elevation	Used to set elevation to this view.

EditText widget in Android with Example

RahulSabharwal

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Article Tags :

EditText widget in Android with Example

Class Syntax:

Class Hierarchy:

Example:

How to include a EditText in an Android App?

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

activity_main.xml:

Here's the code for the MainActivity:

Output:

Some Important XML Attributes of EditText in Android

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