How do I add a bullet symbol in TextView?

Question

I have a TextView and I want to add a bullet symbol in my text through XML. Is it possible?

Answer 1

You have to use the right character encoding to accomplish this effect. You could try with •

Update

Just to clarify: use `setText("\u2022 Bullet");` to add the bullet programmatically. `0x2022 = 8226`

Answer 2

This worked for me:

<string name="text_with_bullet">Text with a \u2022</string>

Answer 3

Copy paste: •. I've done it with other weird characters, such as ◄ and ►.

Edit: here's an example. The two Buttons at the bottom have android:text="◄" and "►".

Answer 4

Prolly a better solution out there somewhere, but this is what I did.

<TableLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        >
        <TableRow>    
            <TextView
                android:layout_column="1"
                android:text="•"></TextView>
            <TextView
                android:layout_column="2"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:text="First line"></TextView>
        </TableRow>
        <TableRow>    
            <TextView
                android:layout_column="1"
                android:text="•"></TextView>
            <TextView
                android:layout_column="2"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:text="Second line"></TextView>
        </TableRow>
  </TableLayout>

It works like you want, but a workaround really.

Answer 5

You may try BulletSpan as described in Android docs.

SpannableString string = new SpannableString("Text with\nBullet point");
string.setSpan(new BulletSpan(40, color, 20), 10, 22, Spanned.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);

Answer 6

Another best way to add bullet in any text view is stated below two steps:

First, create a drawable

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="oval">

    <!--set color of the bullet-->
   <solid 
       android:color="#666666"/> //set color of bullet

    <!--set size of the bullet-->
   <size 
       android:width="120dp"
        android:height="120dp"/>
</shape>

Then add this drawable in textview and set its pedding by using below properties

android:drawableStart="@drawable/bullet"
android:drawablePadding="10dp"

Answer 7

This is how i ended up doing it.

 <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:orientation="horizontal">

            <View
                android:layout_width="20dp"
                android:layout_height="20dp"
                android:background="@drawable/circle"
                android:drawableStart="@drawable/ic_bullet_point" />

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
                android:text="Your text"
                android:textColor="#000000"
                android:textSize="14sp" />
        </LinearLayout>

and the code for drawbale/circle.xml is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:innerRadius="0dp"
  android:shape="ring"
  android:thickness="5dp"
  android:useLevel="false">

 <solid android:color="@color/black1" />

</shape>

Answer 8

With Unicode we can do it easily, but if want to change color of bullet, I tried with colored bullet image and set it as drawableStart and it worked

<TextView     
    android:text="Hello bullet"
    android:drawableStart="@drawable/bulleticon" >
</TextView>

Answer 9

Since android doesnt support <ol>, <ul> or <li> html elements, I had to do it like this

<string name="names"><![CDATA[<p><h2>List of Names:</h2></p><p>&#8226;name1<br />&#8226;name2<br /></p>]]></string>

if you want to maintain custom space then use </pre> tag

Answer 10

(almost) all of the options are about using html tags.

you can use drawables for your TextView if it has only one line of text.

something like this:

<TextView
            android:id="@+id/tv_with_bullet"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="50dp"
            app:drawableStartCompat="@drawable/ic_desired_bullet_icon" />

and add your desired bullet drawable in SVG. it literally takes no space and makes you free of adding complicated string literals. you can also download the SVG file for a bullet point in here

Answer 11

I create this extensión function in Kotlin

fun TextView.addBulletPoints(bulletSymbol: Char = '•') {
    //•‣⁃∙◎◦⦾⦿
    val lines = text?.split("\n") ?: emptyList()
    val builder = SpannableStringBuilder()

    for (line in lines) {
        builder.append("$bulletSymbol ")
        builder.append(line.trim())
        builder.append("\n")
    }

    text = builder
}

or alternative API 24 upper

fun TextView.addBulletPoints(bulletGapWidth: Int = 32, bulletRadius: Int = 12, color: Int = currentTextColor) {
    val lines = text?.split("\n") ?: emptyList()
    val builder = SpannableStringBuilder()

    for (line in lines) {
        val start = builder.length
        builder.append(line.trim())
        builder.setSpan(BulletSpan(bulletGapWidth, color, bulletRadius), start, builder.length, Spanned.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE)
        builder.append("\n")
    }

    text = builder
}