Center text android button

Question

My question is very simple. How do I center the text on a button in android? I tried to set padding to 0, gravity to center but the result when i run it still that the text is horizontal centred but not vertical. The text is a bit shifted to the bottom.

<Button
    android:id="@+id/btnSame"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="center"
    android:layout_marginBottom="10dip"
    android:layout_marginLeft="10dip"
    android:layout_marginRight="10dip"
    android:background="@drawable/layout_button_different"
    android:gravity="center_vertical|center_horizontal"
    android:height="30dp"
    android:padding="0dip"
    android:text="@string/equals"
    android:textColor="@drawable/layout_button_different"
    android:textSize="50dp"
    android:width="70dp" />

My be also relevant: In activity I do this:

btnEquals.setCompoundDrawablesWithIntrinsicBounds(null,getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.up2), null, null);
btnEquals.setPadding(0, 5, 0, 0);
btnEquals.setTextSize(15);

This works but after this I set this:

btnEquals.setCompoundDrawables(null, null, null, null);
btnEquals.setPadding(0, 0, 0, 0);

Result is a bad vertical alignment.

Monarchal

Answer 1

Your existing layout cannot hope to center the text due to the sizes you have selected. You've set the button height to 30dp and your textSize is 50dp, and for whatever reason, Android is unable to deal with that and center the text. If you make your button larger or your text smaller you'll see that the centering works.

Buckeen

if Height is 30dp then what is the use of android:layout_height="wrap_content"? – Ribosome

@hotveryspicy -- put the button layout into an xml and load it up, and you'll see that the wrap_content appears to not care about the spill of the text in this case. I don't know why that happens, but it's what happens (at least when viewed through the Eclipse visual display of the layout; I didn't put it on a device). – Buckeen

Thanks but deleting android:layout_height or android:layout_width resolves in a RuntimeException. – Monarchal

@Monarchal -- no one has suggested you delete either of those; they are required by Android. android:textSize="50dp" is the issue -- especially if you're changing it to 15 in code; either get rid of it or just set it to 15 in the layout. – Buckeen

ahah i had the exact problem :) you saved me weekend :) – Procrustean

android:gravity vs android:layout_gravity android:gravity is used to specify the gravity of the content of the view. android:layout_gravity is an attribution the child can supply to its parent, to specify the gravity the view within its parents. – Ansley

Answer 2

It's easy peasy, you can put this:

android:textAlignment="center"

Oppress

This is a good answer, but I think you can simplify it into a single line android:textAlignment="center". – Footman

Thanks @Alex for your answer. – Oppress

Not work ....... – Indented

@reza_khalafi, Are you sure? – Oppress

Answer 3

There are three systems to consider. The xml layout designer, the simulator, and real phone. The text in the button if you specify gravity="center" will look like this. In xml layout designer it will look like the leftmost letter is in the center of the button but the rest of the letters are to the right. (looks incorrect) In simulator, the text shows well in the center. (correct) In phone, the text shows well in the center. (correct)

Prognathous

Thanks for this answer, I spent 15 minutes wondering what I was doing wrong and it turns out it just 'looks' incorrect – Wold

Answer 4

You can just add this line to your Button in layout xml code:

android:gravity="center"

Anisette

Answer 5

You can also use negative numbers in setPadding. This may help if your font is large and your button is small. Try also setting the top or bottom to a more negative number if it's still off center.

Barrier

Answer 6

You just have to set layout_height to wrap_content and vary the padding attribute for whatever value you want

Carillo

Answer 7

<Button
                android:id="@+id/AnswerE"
                style="@style/defaultbuttonstyle"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_weight="1"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:onClick="AnswerCheck"
                android:text=" E "
                android:textStyle="bold" />

This worked for me

Kolkhoz

you did not made it clear what attribute will help centering the content of the button, in the provided question content is "text" and the attribute android:gravity="center" help you center the content. – Ansley