Setting cursor at the end of any text of a textbox

Question

I have a text box with a displayed string already in it. To bring the cursor to the textbox I am already doing

txtbox.Focus();

But how do I get the cursor at the end of the string in the textbox ?

May this helps: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7750505/how-to-get-and-set-current-cursor-position-of-wpf-textbox — Patrick, Dec 06 '13 at 11:57

score 166 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 21 '18 at 08:49

166

For Windows Forms you can control cursor position (and selection) with txtbox.SelectionStart and txtbox.SelectionLength properties. If you want to set caret to end try this:

txtbox.SelectionStart = txtbox.Text.Length;
txtbox.SelectionLength = 0;

For WPF see this question.

edited Nov 21 '18 at 08:49

Marcello B.

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answered Dec 06 '13 at 11:56

Panu Oksala

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Which post says NOT to use SelectionStart. – Panagiotis Kanavos Dec 06 '13 at 11:58
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I don't think we need -1, if we won't to put the input cursor at the end of textbox. – Yuchen Jun 26 '15 at 17:17
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`Math.max(0, txtbox.Text.Length -1); // Math.max is the logic if length is 0` – David Refoua Dec 21 '15 at 18:23
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@YuchenZhong is right, `-1` puts the insertion point *before* the last character (`her|e`) instead of *after* it (`here|`). Also, text boxes have a `.TextLength` property so all you need is `txtBox.SelectionStart = txtbox.TextLength`. – Wolfgang Aug 09 '16 at 21:06
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@PanagiotisKanavos the post he links is for WPF, whereas the answer given is for Windows Forms. – Wolfgang Aug 09 '16 at 21:08
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@Wolfgang exactly. The question is tagged WPF but the answer is about Windows Forms. WPF allows caret positioning directly – Panagiotis Kanavos Aug 10 '16 at 07:34
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@PanagiotisKanavos Oops, I missed that the question was WPF... – Wolfgang Aug 23 '16 at 15:45
This worked for me, thanks. – Professor Zoom Jul 02 '19 at 15:50
Worked for me. Good for if contents of the TextBox (e.g. path to a file) is too long for the displayed box and you actually need to see the filename – tonyb Jun 30 '20 at 12:28

Vishal Suthar · Answer 2 · 2013-12-06T12:25:56.840

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There are multiple options:

txtBox.Focus();
txtBox.SelectionStart = txtBox.Text.Length;

OR

txtBox.Focus();
txtBox.CaretIndex = txtBox.Text.Length;

OR

txtBox.Focus();
txtBox.Select(txtBox.Text.Length, 0);

edited Dec 06 '13 at 12:25

answered Dec 06 '13 at 11:57

Vishal Suthar

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That sets the selection, not the cursor position – Panagiotis Kanavos Dec 06 '13 at 11:58

Panagiotis Kanavos · Answer 3 · 2013-12-06T12:13:46.763

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You can set the caret position using TextBox.CaretIndex. If the only thing you need is to set the cursor at the end, you can simply pass the string's length, eg:

txtBox.CaretIndex=txtBox.Text.Length;

You need to set the caret index at the length, not length-1, because this would put the caret before the last character.

edited Dec 06 '13 at 12:13

answered Dec 06 '13 at 11:57

Panagiotis Kanavos

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score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 06 '13 at 12:19

1

Try like below... it will help you...

Some time in Window Form Focus() doesn't work correctly. So better you can use Select() to focus the textbox.

txtbox.Select(); // to Set Focus
txtbox.Select(txtbox.Text.Length, 0); //to set cursor at the end of textbox

edited Dec 06 '13 at 12:19

Vishal Suthar

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answered Dec 06 '13 at 12:01

Pandian

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The OP asks about the cursor position, not the selection – Panagiotis Kanavos Dec 06 '13 at 12:04
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@PanagiotisKanavos: Can you read my post correctly before comment... – Pandian Dec 06 '13 at 12:05
From the docs [TextBox.Select Method](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.textbox.select(v=vs.110).aspx): **Selects a range of text in the text box.** While you can emulate positioning by manipulating the selection, it's better to just place the cursor where you want it – Panagiotis Kanavos Dec 06 '13 at 12:10

Setting cursor at the end of any text of a textbox

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