How to set the position of the cursor in UITextView

Question

I have an UITextView in my iPhone app which is editable.

New button is created inside the UITextView whenever user select a specific function.

As the button is always placed on the left side in the text view, I need to position the cursor on the right side of the button so that user can see what they are typing. I can't seem to find a documented (or undocumented) method to set location of the cursor.

Does anybody have any ideas or has anybody else achieved anything similar?

i wish to post it too but im new here. Reputation less than 10 is not allow to post images. zzz — GURU, Jan 17 '12 at 08:27

score 53 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 02 '12 at 23:42

53

I know this is VERY late, but I thought I could help people stuck in this (like me).

The performSelector:withObject:afterDelay seems to work fine (the other answers just wouldn't work for some strange reason):

- (void)textViewDidBeginEditing:(UITextView *)inView 
{ 
[self performSelector:@selector(setCursorToBeginning:) withObject:inView afterDelay:0.01]; 
} 

- (void)setCursorToBeginning:(UITextView *)inView 
{ 
//you can change first parameter in NSMakeRange to wherever you want the cursor to move
inView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(3, 0); 
}

source: http://puppenspieler.tumblr.com/post/757819650/set-selectedrange-in-a-uitextview

answered Sep 02 '12 at 23:42

Cashew

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@Cashew this is working but i don't get it, why this is working after delay and not in textViewDidBeginEditing method ? can you tell me why this is not working directly in the method...give you +1 for solution.... – Sam Apr 05 '14 at 10:16
@Sam no idea, this is just a way I found to hack it. This might stop working as Apple updates their SDK – Cashew Apr 05 '14 at 20:06
For Swift, to pass multiple arguments to a selector after a delay, use @Matt's delay method here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24034544/dispatch-after-gcd-in-swift/24318861#24318861 – ObjectiveTC Aug 01 '15 at 23:25

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 17 '12 at 07:38

23

textView.editable = YES;
textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(2, 0);

Set the selectedRange to a location with length of 0 and you probably also want the textView to be editable so also set that to YES.

answered Jan 17 '12 at 07:38

Evan

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score 18 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 05 '14 at 18:34

18

Try something like this:

dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
    inView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(3, 0);
});

This will cause selectedRange to be executed on the main thread at the beginning of the next runloop.

answered Dec 05 '14 at 18:34

acavanagh

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4

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 29 '17 at 17:52

7

I use the following to get to the beginning of the textView, using Swift 4:

DispatchQueue.main.async {
    self.selectedTextRange = self.textRange(from: self.beginningOfDocument, to: self.beginningOfDocument)
}

answered Jun 29 '17 at 17:52

blwinters

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34

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 17 '12 at 07:40

3

change selectedRange of your textView. for example to place cursor at position 3:

[textView setSelectedRange:NSMakeRange(3, 0)];

In your case, added some spaces on the textView contents might helps. and observer textview 's textDidChanged event to prevent these space will be deleted by user.

answered Jan 17 '12 at 07:40

xhan

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I inserted this code in textViewDidBeginEditing but it's not working. The position of the cursor in the text view still being on the left side. – GURU Jan 17 '12 at 07:49
is no content inside your textView? added some spaces before set cursor position. – xhan Jan 17 '12 at 07:58

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 13 '16 at 03:06

If you want to make Texview placeholder is required or optional like me. See my hack

 func textViewDidBeginEditing(textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.text.isEmpty {
          if self.text == "Required" || self.text == "Optional" {
            dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), {
              textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0)
            });
          }
        }
      }

      func textViewDidEndEditing(textView: UITextView) {
        if CommonUtils.isEmptyString(textView.text) {
          if required {
            textView.text = "Required"
          } else {
            textView.text = "Optional"
          }
          textView.textColor = grayColor//
        }
      }

      func textViewDidChange(textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.text.isEmpty {
          if required {
            textView.text = "Required"
          } else {
            textView.text = "Optional"
          }
          textView.textColor = grayColor
          textView.selectedRange = NSMakeRange(0, 0)
        } else {
          if required {
            if textView.text.length > "Required".length {
              textView.text = self.text.replace("Required", withString: "")
            }
          } else {
            if textView.text.length > "Optional".length {
              textView.text = self.text.replace("Optional", withString: "")
            }
          }
          textView.textColor = blackColor//
        }
      }

Dont forget to register delegate: UITextViewDelegate

Question is not about to placeholder. Irrespective answer – Raj Aggrawal Aug 11 '16 at 09:44 — Raj Aggrawal, Aug 11 '16 at 09:44

How to set the position of the cursor in UITextView

6 Answers6

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