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Version: v8 (beta)

ion-textarea

scoped

The textarea component is used for multi-line text input. A native textarea element is rendered inside of the component. The user experience and interactivity of the textarea component is improved by having control over the native textarea.

Unlike the native textarea element, the Ionic textarea does not support loading its value from the inner content. The textarea value should be set in the value attribute.

The textarea component accepts the native textarea attributes in addition to the Ionic properties.

Basic Usage

Labels

Labels should be used to describe the textarea. They can be used visually, and they will also be read out by screen readers when the user is focused on the textarea. This makes it easy for the user to understand the intent of the textarea. Textarea has several ways to assign a label:

  • label property: used for plaintext labels
  • label slot: used for custom HTML labels (experimental)
  • aria-label: used to provide a label for screen readers but adds no visible label

Label Placement

Labels will take up the width of their content by default. Developers can use the labelPlacement property to control how the label is placed relative to the control.

Label Slot (experimental)

While plaintext labels should be passed in via the label property, if custom HTML is needed, it can be passed through the label slot instead.

Note that this feature is considered experimental because it relies on a simulated version of Web Component slots. As a result, the simulated behavior may not exactly match the native slot behavior.

No Visible Label

If no visible label is needed, developers should still supply an aria-label so the textarea is accessible to screen readers.

Filled Textareas

Material Design offers filled styles for a textarea. The fill property on the item can be set to either "solid" or "outline".

Since the fill styles visually defines the textarea container, textareas that use fill should not be used in ion-item.

Filled textareas can be used on iOS by setting Textarea's mode to md.

Helper & Error Text

Helper and error text can be used inside of a textarea with the helperText and errorText property. The error text will not be displayed unless the ion-invalid and ion-touched classes are added to the ion-textarea. This ensures errors are not shown before the user has a chance to enter data.

In Angular, this is done automatically through form validation. In JavaScript, React and Vue, the class needs to be manually added based on your own validation.

Textarea Counter

The textarea counter is text that displays under a textarea to notify the user of how many characters have been entered out of the total that the textarea will accept. When adding counter, the default behavior is to format the value that gets displayed as inputLength / maxLength. This behavior can be customized by passing in a formatter function to the counterFormatter property.

Autogrow

When the autoGrow property is set to true, the textarea will grow and shrink based on its contents.

Clear on Edit

Setting the clearOnEdit property to true will clear the textarea after it has been blurred and then typed in again.

Migrating from Legacy Textarea Syntax

A simpler textarea syntax was introduced in Ionic 7.0. This new syntax reduces the boilerplate required to setup an textarea, resolves accessibility issues, and improves the developer experience.

Developers can perform this migration one textarea at a time. While developers can continue using the legacy syntax, we recommend migrating as soon as possible.

Using the Modern Syntax

Using the modern syntax involves three steps:

  1. Remove ion-label and use the label property on ion-textarea instead. The placement of the label can be configured using the labelPlacement property on ion-textarea.
  2. Move textarea-specific properties from ion-item on to ion-textarea. This includes the counter, counterFormatter, fill, and shape properties.
  3. Remove usages of the helper and error slots on ion-item and use the helperText and errorText properties on ion-textarea instead.
<!-- Label and Label Position -->

<!-- Before -->
<ion-item>
<ion-label position="floating">Label:</ion-label>
<ion-textarea></ion-textarea>
</ion-item>

<!-- After -->
<ion-item>
<ion-textarea label="Label:" label-placement="floating"></ion-textarea>
</ion-item>


<!-- Fill -->

<!-- Before -->
<ion-item fill="outline" shape="round">
<ion-label position="floating">Label:</ion-label>
<ion-textarea></ion-textarea>
</ion-item>

<!-- After -->

<!-- Textareas using `fill` should not be placed in ion-item -->
<ion-textarea fill="outline" shape="round" label="Label:" label-placement="floating"></ion-textarea>

<!-- Textarea-specific features on ion-item -->

<!-- Before -->
<ion-item counter="true">
<ion-label position="floating">Label:</ion-label>
<ion-textarea maxlength="100"></ion-textarea>
<div slot="helper">Enter text</div>
<div slot="error">Please enter text</div>
</ion-item>

<!-- After -->

<!--
Metadata such as counters and helper text should not
be used when a textarea is in an item/list. If you need to
provide more context on a textarea, consider using an ion-note
underneath the ion-list.
-->

<ion-textarea
label="Label:"
counter="true"
maxlength="100"
helper-text="Enter text"
error-text="Please enter text"
></ion-textarea>

Using the Legacy Syntax

Ionic uses heuristics to detect if an app is using the modern textarea syntax. In some instances, it may be preferable to continue using the legacy syntax. Developers can set the legacy property on ion-textarea to true to force that instance of the textarea to use the legacy syntax.

Theming

Interfaces

TextareaChangeEventDetail

interface TextareaChangeEventDetail {
value?: string | null;
}

TextareaCustomEvent

While not required, this interface can be used in place of the CustomEvent interface for stronger typing with Ionic events emitted from this component.

interface TextareaCustomEvent extends CustomEvent {
detail: TextareaChangeEventDetail;
target: HTMLIonTextareaElement;
}

Properties

autoGrow

DescriptionIf true, the textarea container will grow and shrink based on the contents of the textarea.
Attributeauto-grow
Typeboolean
Defaultfalse

autocapitalize

DescriptionIndicates whether and how the text value should be automatically capitalized as it is entered/edited by the user. Available options: "off", "none", "on", "sentences", "words", "characters".
Attributeautocapitalize
Typestring
Default'none'

autofocus

DescriptionSets the autofocus attribute on the native input element.

This may not be sufficient for the element to be focused on page load. See managing focus for more information.
Attributeautofocus
Typeboolean
Defaultfalse

clearOnEdit

DescriptionIf true, the value will be cleared after focus upon edit.
Attributeclear-on-edit
Typeboolean
Defaultfalse

color

DescriptionThe color to use from your application's color palette. Default options are: "primary", "secondary", "tertiary", "success", "warning", "danger", "light", "medium", and "dark". For more information on colors, see theming.
Attributecolor
Type"danger" | "dark" | "light" | "medium" | "primary" | "secondary" | "success" | "tertiary" | "warning" | string | undefined
Defaultundefined

cols

DescriptionThe visible width of the text control, in average character widths. If it is specified, it must be a positive integer.
Attributecols
Typenumber | undefined
Defaultundefined

counter

DescriptionIf true, a character counter will display the ratio of characters used and the total character limit. Developers must also set the maxlength property for the counter to be calculated correctly.
Attributecounter
Typeboolean
Defaultfalse

counterFormatter

DescriptionA callback used to format the counter text. By default the counter text is set to "itemLength / maxLength".
Attributeundefined
Type((inputLength: number, maxLength: number) => string) | undefined
Defaultundefined

debounce

DescriptionSet the amount of time, in milliseconds, to wait to trigger the ionInput event after each keystroke.
Attributedebounce
Typenumber | undefined
Defaultundefined

disabled

DescriptionIf true, the user cannot interact with the textarea.
Attributedisabled
Typeboolean
Defaultfalse

enterkeyhint

DescriptionA hint to the browser for which enter key to display. Possible values: "enter", "done", "go", "next", "previous", "search", and "send".
Attributeenterkeyhint
Type"done" | "enter" | "go" | "next" | "previous" | "search" | "send" | undefined
Defaultundefined

errorText

DescriptionText that is placed under the textarea and displayed when an error is detected.
Attributeerror-text
Typestring | undefined
Defaultundefined

fill

DescriptionThe fill for the item. If "solid" the item will have a background. If "outline" the item will be transparent with a border. Only available in md mode.
Attributefill
Type"outline" | "solid" | undefined
Defaultundefined

helperText

DescriptionText that is placed under the textarea and displayed when no error is detected.
Attributehelper-text
Typestring | undefined
Defaultundefined

inputmode

DescriptionA hint to the browser for which keyboard to display. Possible values: "none", "text", "tel", "url", "email", "numeric", "decimal", and "search".
Attributeinputmode
Type"decimal" | "email" | "none" | "numeric" | "search" | "tel" | "text" | "url" | undefined
Defaultundefined

label

DescriptionThe visible label associated with the textarea.

Use this if you need to render a plaintext label.

The label property will take priority over the label slot if both are used.
Attributelabel
Typestring | undefined
Defaultundefined

labelPlacement

DescriptionWhere to place the label relative to the textarea. "start": The label will appear to the left of the textarea in LTR and to the right in RTL. "end": The label will appear to the right of the textarea in LTR and to the left in RTL. "floating": The label will appear smaller and above the textarea when the textarea is focused or it has a value. Otherwise it will appear on top of the textarea. "stacked": The label will appear smaller and above the textarea regardless even when the textarea is blurred or has no value. "fixed": The label has the same behavior as "start" except it also has a fixed width. Long text will be truncated with ellipses ("...").
Attributelabel-placement
Type"end" | "fixed" | "floating" | "stacked" | "start"
Default'start'

legacy

DescriptionSet the legacy property to true to forcibly use the legacy form control markup. Ionic will only opt components in to the modern form markup when they are using either the aria-label attribute or the default slot that contains the label text. As a result, the legacy property should only be used as an escape hatch when you want to avoid this automatic opt-in behavior. Note that this property will be removed in an upcoming major release of Ionic, and all form components will be opted-in to using the modern form markup.
Attributelegacy
Typeboolean | undefined
Defaultundefined

maxlength

DescriptionThis attribute specifies the maximum number of characters that the user can enter.
Attributemaxlength
Typenumber | undefined
Defaultundefined

minlength

DescriptionThis attribute specifies the minimum number of characters that the user can enter.
Attributeminlength
Typenumber | undefined
Defaultundefined

mode

DescriptionThe mode determines which platform styles to use.
Attributemode
Type"ios" | "md"
Defaultundefined

name

DescriptionThe name of the control, which is submitted with the form data.
Attributename
Typestring
Defaultthis.inputId

placeholder

DescriptionInstructional text that shows before the input has a value.
Attributeplaceholder
Typestring | undefined
Defaultundefined

readonly

DescriptionIf true, the user cannot modify the value.
Attributereadonly
Typeboolean
Defaultfalse

required

DescriptionIf true, the user must fill in a value before submitting a form.
Attributerequired
Typeboolean
Defaultfalse

rows

DescriptionThe number of visible text lines for the control.
Attributerows
Typenumber | undefined
Defaultundefined

shape

DescriptionThe shape of the textarea. If "round" it will have an increased border radius.
Attributeshape
Type"round" | undefined
Defaultundefined

spellcheck

DescriptionIf true, the element will have its spelling and grammar checked.
Attributespellcheck
Typeboolean
Defaultfalse

value

DescriptionThe value of the textarea.
Attributevalue
Typenull | string | undefined
Default''

wrap

DescriptionIndicates how the control wraps text.
Attributewrap
Type"hard" | "off" | "soft" | undefined
Defaultundefined

Events

NameDescription
ionBlurEmitted when the input loses focus.
ionChangeThe ionChange event is fired when the user modifies the textarea's value. Unlike the ionInput event, the ionChange event is fired when the element loses focus after its value has been modified.
ionFocusEmitted when the input has focus.
ionInputThe ionInput event is fired each time the user modifies the textarea's value. Unlike the ionChange event, the ionInput event is fired for each alteration to the textarea's value. This typically happens for each keystroke as the user types.

When clearOnEdit is enabled, the ionInput event will be fired when the user clears the textarea by performing a keydown event.

Methods

getInputElement

DescriptionReturns the native <textarea> element used under the hood.
SignaturegetInputElement() => Promise<HTMLTextAreaElement>

setFocus

DescriptionSets focus on the native textarea in ion-textarea. Use this method instead of the global textarea.focus().

See managing focus for more information.
SignaturesetFocus() => Promise<void>

CSS Shadow Parts

No CSS shadow parts available for this component.

CSS Custom Properties

NameDescription
--backgroundBackground of the textarea
--border-colorColor of the border below the textarea when using helper text, error text, or counter
--border-radiusBorder radius of the textarea
--border-styleStyle of the border below the textarea when using helper text, error text, or counter
--border-widthWidth of the border below the textarea when using helper text, error text, or counter
--colorColor of the text
--highlight-color-focusedThe color of the highlight on the textarea when focused
--highlight-color-invalidThe color of the highlight on the textarea when invalid
--highlight-color-validThe color of the highlight on the textarea when valid
--padding-bottomBottom padding of the textarea
--padding-endRight padding if direction is left-to-right, and left padding if direction is right-to-left of the textarea
--padding-startLeft padding if direction is left-to-right, and right padding if direction is right-to-left of the textarea
--padding-topTop padding of the textarea
--placeholder-colorColor of the placeholder text
--placeholder-font-styleStyle of the placeholder text
--placeholder-font-weightWeight of the placeholder text
--placeholder-opacityOpacity of the placeholder text

Slots

NameDescription
labelThe label text to associate with the textarea. Use the labelPlacement property to control where the label is placed relative to the textarea. Use this if you need to render a label with custom HTML. (EXPERIMENTAL)