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How to set the gravity of text in a TextView in Kotlin Android

How to set the gravity of text in a TextView in Kotlin Android.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to set the gravity of text in a TextView in Kotlin Android:

Step 1: Create a new Android project​

Create a new Android project in Android Studio or open an existing project where you want to set the gravity of text in a TextView.

Step 2: Open the layout file​

Open the layout file (XML) where you have defined the TextView for which you want to set the gravity. This file is usually located in the res/layout directory.

Step 3: Add a TextView to the layout​

If you don't have a TextView in your layout file, add one using the following code:

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/myTextView"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Hello World!" />

Step 4: Set the gravity attribute​

To set the gravity of the text in the TextView, add the android:gravity attribute to the TextView element in your layout file. The android:gravity attribute accepts different values to specify the alignment and positioning of the text. Here are some commonly used values:

  • center: Aligns the text in the center horizontally and vertically within the TextView.
  • left: Aligns the text to the left of the TextView.
  • right: Aligns the text to the right of the TextView.
  • start: Aligns the text to the start of the TextView, which is left in left-to-right languages and right in right-to-left languages.
  • end: Aligns the text to the end of the TextView, which is right in left-to-right languages and left in right-to-left languages.
  • top: Aligns the text to the top of the TextView.
  • bottom: Aligns the text to the bottom of the TextView.

For example, to align the text in the center horizontally and vertically within the TextView, use the following code:

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/myTextView"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Hello World!"
    android:gravity="center" />

Step 5: Access the TextView in your Kotlin code​

To set the gravity programmatically in Kotlin, you need to access the TextView in your Kotlin code. In your activity or fragment, declare a variable of type TextView and initialize it with the TextView from your layout file. You can do this using the findViewById method.

val myTextView = findViewById<TextView>(R.id.myTextView)

Step 6: Set the gravity programmatically​

Once you have access to the TextView, you can set the gravity programmatically using the setGravity method. This method accepts an integer value representing the gravity. You can use the constants defined in the Gravity class to specify the gravity. For example, to set the gravity to center, use the following code:

myTextView.gravity = Gravity.CENTER

You can also combine multiple gravity options using the bitwise OR operator. For example, to set the gravity to center horizontally and align the text to the top, use the following code:

myTextView.gravity = Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL or Gravity.TOP

That's it! You have now learned how to set the gravity of text in a TextView in Kotlin Android. You can experiment with different gravity values to achieve the desired text alignment and positioning in your TextView.