flutter wrap text instead of overflow

Question

When creating a Text widget with a long string in Flutter, it wraps its text when put directly in a Column. However, when it is inside Column-Row-Column, the text overflows the side of the screen.

How do I wrap text inside a Column-Row-Column? And what is the reason for this difference? It would seem logical to me that any child of the upper column would have the same width? Why is the width unbounded?

I tried putting the text in Expanded, Flexible, Container and FittedBox, based on other answers, but it leads to new errors I don't understand.

Example:

MaterialApp(
  title: 'Text overflow',
  home: Scaffold(
    appBar: AppBar(title: Text("MyApp"),),
    body: Column(
      children: <Widget>[
        Row(
          children: <Widget>[
            // The long text inside this column overflows. Remove the row and column above this comment and the text wraps.
            Column(
              children: <Widget>[
                Text("Short text"),
                Text("Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. ")
              ],
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ],
    ),
  ), 
)

"**Why is the width unbounded?**". See https://stackoverflow.com/a/66736127/2301224 — Baker, May 06 '21 at 04:19

attdona · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-12T13:20:43.077

Row and Column are Flex widget and don't scroll, if there is not enough space flutter raises an overflow error.

If this occurs an Expanded or a Flexible widget may be used to wrap a long text.

In the docs it is not clearly stated, but beyond expanding to fill the available space in the main axis, Expanded and Flexible wraps in the cross-axis direction.

The long story

A step by step approach may help to understand the problem.

First, consider this scenario:

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  // This widget is the root of your application.
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Text overflow',
      home: Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(
          title: Text("MyApp"),
        ),
        body: Column(
          children: List.generate(100, (idx) => Text("Short text"))
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

It is a column widget that overflows on vertical direction as clearly reported by flutter:

I/flutter ( 8390): The following message was thrown during layout:
I/flutter ( 8390): A RenderFlex overflowed by 997 pixels on the bottom.
I/flutter ( 8390): 
I/flutter ( 8390): The overflowing RenderFlex has an orientation of Axis.vertical.

Now, a Row inside a Column:

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  // This widget is the root of your application.
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Text overflow',
      home: Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(title: Text("MyApp"),),
        body: Column(
          children: <Widget>[
            Row(
              children: <Widget>[
                Text(String.fromCharCodes(List.generate(100, (i) => 65)))
              ],
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Now the overflow problem appears on the right side.

I have inserted a Row in a Column just to resemble your case, but the exact same problem emerge if you use a simple Row widget: Row and Column are both Flex widgets:

they layout their children in one direction;
they do not scroll, so if the children occupy more space than available an overflow error is raised;

The Expanded widget

Consider this layout, a row with two items, stiched togheter

Column(
  children: <Widget>[
    Row(
      children: <Widget>[Text('AAAA'), Text('ZZZZ')],
    ),
  ],
),

Now the first item Expanded to fill all the available space:

Column(
  children: <Widget>[
    Row(
      children: <Widget>[
        Expanded(child: Text('AAAA')),
        Text('ZZZZ')],
    ),
  ],
),

Finally, when you expand a very long string you will notice that the text wraps in the cross-axis direction:

Column(
  children: <Widget>[
    Row(
      children: <Widget>[
        Expanded(child: Text(String.fromCharCodes(List.generate(100, (i) => 65)))),
        Text('ZZZZ')],
    ),
  ],
),

You can take screen shot from the emulator instead of print screen then crop :) — Yann39, Feb 12 '19 at 12:57
This doesn't work for me, My tree (simplified) is: Scaffold > StreamBuilder > Column > Card > Padding > Row > Column > Column > Row > Text — Michel Feinstein, Nov 19 '19 at 21:03
Finally figured it out. When you add a widget even an empty text, now it will calculate end of the width. — Ataberk, Feb 11 '20 at 01:50
This answer is nicely written, and long, and starts promising, but then doesn't actually explain the effect at all :/ — mako, Feb 26 '21 at 07:10
A good explanation with an example. After going through it I found to use Expanded Widget. — Parth Patel, Oct 19 '22 at 13:25

score 68 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 11 '19 at 15:59

68

You need to wrap the last Column with - Expanded or Flexible widget.

That Way Column can take up the required available space for the text.

body: Column(
        children: <Widget>[
          Row(
            children: <Widget>[
              // The long text inside this column overflows. Remove the row and column above this comment and the text wraps.
              Expanded(
                child: Column(
                  children: <Widget>[
                    Text("Short text"),
                    Text(
                        "Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. ")
                  ],
                ),
              ),
            ],
          ),
        ],
      ),

answered Feb 11 '19 at 15:59

anmol.majhail

48,256
14
136
105

5

I see it works, but I don't understand it. Why is the available space infinite in the first place? – Jesse de Wit Feb 11 '19 at 16:32
3

The only solution that worked for me, after trying 10+ different ones! – Magnus Aug 01 '19 at 14:00
4

Incredible. It works but I don't understand why too :) – JavaRunner Dec 19 '19 at 07:10
2

Thanks! I swear I was trying this last night and wasn't working but now it is - always the way when I'm tired! – Chris Feb 14 '20 at 08:37
2

Tried for several hours and finally this helped. Thank you. – Raja C Jun 22 '20 at 13:22
Thank you finally something that actually works – Andreas Toresäter Apr 02 '21 at 09:04
Not solved my problem, getting another issue now "Incorrect use of ParentDataWidget." – Kamlesh May 19 '21 at 08:42
Wow, after trying other solutions, this one finally worked. Thanks – Macdonald Nov 30 '22 at 21:30

score 15 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 08 '19 at 21:22

To avoid overflow for the texts in Row or Columns. Make sure you wrap the text under Flexible or Expanded widgets. After wrapping the text under one of the above widget, it will will wrap the big text into multiple lines. Sharing an Example :

Before Expanded widget:

return  Center(child:
        Container(
        padding: EdgeInsets.only(left: 50, right: 50),
          child: Row(
           mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
            crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
            children: <Widget>[
              Container(
                height: 200,
                 child: Text('It is a multiline text It does not  auto warp the text.', textAlign: TextAlign.center,style: TextStyle(fontSize: 20.0, color: Colors.white)),

          )
          ],
        ))
      );

Screenshot :

After Wapping inside Expanded :

  return  Center(
        child: Padding(padding:  EdgeInsets.only(left: 50, right: 50),
          child:  Row(
            mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,

            children: <Widget>[
              Expanded(

                  child: Text('It is a multiline text It does not  auto warp the text.', textAlign: TextAlign.center,style: TextStyle(fontSize: 20.0, color: Colors.white))),
            ],
          ),
        )
      );

Screenshot :

score 11 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 05 '20 at 15:57

Use Flexible Widget on Column as it's taking only the required space available.

Column(
      children: <Widget>[
        Row(
          children: <Widget>[
            // The long text inside this column overflows. Remove the row and column above this comment and the text wraps.
            Flexible(
              child: Column(
                children: <Widget>[
                Text("Short text"),
                  Text(
                      "Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. ")
                ],
              ),
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ],
    ),

Output:

score 5 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 11 '21 at 09:45

5

Flutter provides a very useful Widget called Wrap, that can easily wrap its children horizontally and as well as vertically.

Wrap(
  direction: Axis.horizontal, //default
  alignment: WrapAlignment.center,
  children: [
    Text(),   //you can use any other widget
    Text(),
    Text(),
    Text(),
    Text(),
  ],
),

edited Dec 11 '21 at 09:45

mono blaine

1,001
9
13

answered Jun 16 '20 at 10:29

Shubhamhackz

7,333
7
50
71

Funny that this doesn't have more votes. Thank you! – byron Apr 25 '23 at 19:51

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 29 '21 at 08:28

Use Expanded as I used and solved the problem... Expanded solves this text-overflow problem if used in a proper way. Below is my code:

Row(
                              children: <Widget>[
                                Expanded(
                                  flex: 1,
                                  child: Icon(
                                    Icons.watch_later_outlined,
                                    size: 25,
                                    color: Colors.blueAccent,
                                  ),
                                ),
                                Expanded(
                                  flex: 5,
                                  child: Text("Write your long text here"
                                  ),
                                ), // name
                              ]),

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 27 '23 at 16:52

As many have pointed out, Flexible should work, but... If you have multiple levels of Row, you will need to put Flexible in all of them, not only in the closest row, example:

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  super.build(context);
  return Container(
    child: IntrinsicHeight(
      child: Row(
        children: [
          // ...
          Flexible( // <-- THE OUTER ROW MUST ALSO CONTAIN `FLEXIBLE` !!
            child: Column(
              children: [
                // ...
                Row(
                  children: [
                    Text('Short Text'),
                    // ...
                    Flexible( // <-- THE `FLEXIBLE` OF THE INNER ROW WILL NOW WORK !!
                      child: Text(
                        'Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. Very long text. ',
                        overflow: TextOverflow.ellipsis,
                      ),
                    ),
                  ],
                ),
              ],
            ),
          ),
        ],
      ),
    ),
  );
}

Also, avoid using 10+ levels of indentation, create getters or methods to abstract each "small component logic" instead. I used it this way just to explain the solution better.

score -8 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 30 '22 at 06:37

-8

Text(
     "I have read and agree to the end \n user agreement.");

you can use \n to print long text in new line. here i attached output pic

answered Mar 30 '22 at 06:37

Rishita Joshi

203
2
3

flutter wrap text instead of overflow

8 Answers8

The long story

The Expanded widget

Linked