Set color of TextView span in Android

Question

Is it possible to set the color of just span of text in a TextView?

I would like to do something similar to the Twitter app, in which a part of the text is blue. See

Answer 1

Below works perfectly for me

    tvPrivacyPolicy = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tvPrivacyPolicy);
    String originalText = (String)tvPrivacyPolicy.getText();
    int startPosition = 15;
    int endPosition = 31;

    SpannableString spannableStr = new SpannableString(originalText);
    UnderlineSpan underlineSpan = new UnderlineSpan();
    spannableStr.setSpan(underlineSpan, startPosition, endPosition, Spanned.SPAN_INCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);

    ForegroundColorSpan backgroundColorSpan = new ForegroundColorSpan(Color.BLUE);
    spannableStr.setSpan(backgroundColorSpan, startPosition, endPosition, Spanned.SPAN_INCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);

    StyleSpan styleSpanItalic  = new StyleSpan(Typeface.BOLD);

    spannableStr.setSpan(styleSpanItalic, startPosition, endPosition, Spanned.SPAN_INCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);

    tvPrivacyPolicy.setText(spannableStr);

Output for above code

Answer 2

Another answer would be very similar, but wouldn't need to set the text of the TextView twice

TextView TV = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.mytextview01);

Spannable wordtoSpan = new SpannableString("I know just how to whisper, And I know just how to cry,I know just where to find the answers");        

wordtoSpan.setSpan(new ForegroundColorSpan(Color.BLUE), 15, 30, Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);

TV.setText(wordtoSpan);

Answer 3

I always find visual examples helpful when trying to understand a new concept.

Background Color

SpannableString spannableString = new SpannableString("Hello World!");
BackgroundColorSpan backgroundSpan = new BackgroundColorSpan(Color.YELLOW);
spannableString.setSpan(backgroundSpan, 0, spannableString.length(), Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
textView.setText(spannableString);

Foreground Color

SpannableString spannableString = new SpannableString("Hello World!");
ForegroundColorSpan foregroundSpan = new ForegroundColorSpan(Color.RED);
spannableString.setSpan(foregroundSpan, 0, spannableString.length(), Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
textView.setText(spannableString);

Combination

SpannableString spannableString = new SpannableString("Hello World!");
ForegroundColorSpan foregroundSpan = new ForegroundColorSpan(Color.RED);
BackgroundColorSpan backgroundSpan = new BackgroundColorSpan(Color.YELLOW);
spannableString.setSpan(foregroundSpan, 0, 8, Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
spannableString.setSpan(backgroundSpan, 3, spannableString.length(), Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
textView.setText(spannableString);

Further Study

• Explain the meaning of Span flags like SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE
• Android Spanned, SpannedString, Spannable, SpannableString and CharSequence

Answer 4

Here's a Kotlin Extension Function I have for this

    fun TextView.setColouredSpan(word: String, color: Int) {
        val spannableString = SpannableString(text)
        val start = text.indexOf(word)
        val end = text.indexOf(word) + word.length
        try {
            spannableString.setSpan(ForegroundColorSpan(color), start, end,Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE)
            text = spannableString
        } catch (e: IndexOutOfBoundsException) {
         println("'$word' was not not found in TextView text")
    }
}

Use it after you have set your text to the TextView like so

private val blueberry by lazy { getColor(R.color.blueberry) }

textViewTip.setColouredSpan("Warning", blueberry)

Answer 5

Set your TextView´s text spannable and define a ForegroundColorSpan for your text.

TextView textView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.mytextview01);    
Spannable wordtoSpan = new SpannableString("I know just how to whisper, And I know just how to cry,I know just where to find the answers");          
wordtoSpan.setSpan(new ForegroundColorSpan(Color.BLUE), 15, 30, Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);    
textView.setText(wordtoSpan);

Answer 6

Set Color on Text by passing String and color:

private String getColoredSpanned(String text, String color) {
  String input = "<font color=" + color + ">" + text + "</font>";
  return input;
}

Set text on TextView / Button / EditText etc by calling below code:

TextView:

TextView txtView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.txtView);

Get Colored String:

String name = getColoredSpanned("Hiren", "#800000");

Set Text on TextView:

txtView.setText(Html.fromHtml(name));

Done