Click and hold to select text using a text component

[yasemincidem]

Description

I want click-and-hold-to-select-text using a Text component and then i searched it and i found selectable property.It good works but it copy the entire text field.I want to selecting a subset of the text field for copying.Actually this question is asked on stackoverflow .Here is question on stackoverflow:http://stackoverflow.com/a/37119619/4596143

Reproduction Steps and Sample Code

I try this code block:

<Text
                        selectable={true}
                        style={styles.messageBody}>
                        {"text description"}
</Text>

This full of text ("text description") can copy not partially .I want to it like screenshot

Actual behaviour:

Expected behavior:

Solution

They are said that RN 0.39 adds support to copy the entire text field, but does not yet include support for selecting a subset of the text field for copying on stackoverflow .I wonder Text component include support for selecting a subset of the text field for copying on new versions for react native.If the property does not exist on new versions ,will the property for text integrate ?

Additional Information

• React Native version:^0.43
• Platform: IOS
• Development Operating System: macOS

[fenglu09]

@yasemincidem Have you found a solution？

[react-native-bot]

This issue looks like a question and not an actual bug report. Please try asking over on Stack Overflow instead.

[BichCNTT]

Hello guys,
How I can get the word selected when set selectable={true}
Can you tell me?
Ths.

[ethanleeX]

@BichCNTT you can try this status-im/status-legacy#3616

[wcandillon]

@react-native-bot this issue should be reopened

[singhsoldier13]

+1

[thinhtrh]

+1

[yusent]

+1

[ezrra]

+1

+1

[axelfrid]

+1

[j-ornelas]

+1

[xinfang]

+1

[mraak]

+1

[AbdelhalimAhmed]

+1

[jeongsd]

+1

[kala888]

this issue should be reopened again

[kala888]

Here is a temporary solution。

    {imageText.length > 0 &&
                device.ios && (
                  <AutoGrowingTextInput
                    scrollEnabled={false}
                    value={`        ${imageText}`}
                    editable={false}
                  />
                )}

              {imageText.length > 0 &&
                device.android && (
                  <Text selectable>
                    {'        '}
                    {imageText}
                  </Text>
                )}

[msand]

I've published a workaround for now if you're interested: https://github.com/msand/react-native-selectable-text

It's only needed on Android, and works as a drop-in replacement for a TextInput with these specific values on iOS, as TextInput with editable: false already works correctly there. TextInput on Android either fills most of the screen with the keyboard, or disables the ability to select and respond to selection changes. I would assume this component only works well for the specific use-case I had, haven't tested it for any other prop values.

import SelectableText from 'react-native-selectable-text';

export default ({ text, onSelectionChange }) => (
  <SelectableText
    selectable
    multiline
    contextMenuHidden
    scrollEnabled={false}
    editable={false}
    onSelectionChange={onSelectionChange}
    style={{
      color: "#BAB6C8",
    }}
    value={text}
  />);

[zhouanbo]

My solution is to use https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-native-webview-autoheight and load text as html.

[kkusanagi]

React-Native 0.59 version. Only show COPY when long press.
Edit: Seems only work for Android version. IOS don't have this feature.

[scarlac]

Use a <TextInput/> on iOS to allow multiple actions and use a regular <Text/> on Android. That will allow specific word selection on both platforms. No linking. No native libraries. Just use this:

import { Platform } from 'react-native';
// ...
{Platform.OS === 'ios' ? (
  // iOS requires a textinput for word selections
  <TextInput
    value={description}
    editable={false}
    multiline
  />
) : (
  // Android can do word selections just with <Text>
  <Text selectable>{description}</Text>
)}

Result, Android:

Result, iOS:

[hoanvnbka]

I test version 0.59.10 but selectable did not work. Does anyone have same error?

[acro5piano]

@scarlac
Thanks for the workaround. How do you treat nested <TextInput /> ? It seems to accept type of string.

[scarlac]

@acro5piano TextInput cannot be nested in another TextInput. Un-nest your texts to make them selectable. If you need rich text formatting I unfortunately don't have an answer.

@hoanvnbka selectable is a react native feature that's usually reliable on iOS. On Android, the Emulator tends to stop responding to the long press after a while, so you'll need to restart the emulator to fix it. If you still need help, you need to provide more information than 'did not work'. Try posting on Stack Overflow with the solution I gave, a detailed explanation of the problem and what you tried to fix it.

[acro5piano]

@scarlac
Thank you for your answer!

[fabOnReact]

Hello,

Thanks for the issue. I have been contributing to facebook/react-native for 4 years and specialize in the Text/TextInput components. I currently have 58 facebook/react-native PRs:

https://github.com/facebook/react-native/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3Afabriziobertoglio1987+

It is the suggested approach from the react-native core team (see this discussion).

I'm publishing several fixes for Text and TextInput component in a separate library react-native-improved.

• The Component is based on ReactTextView, it is the same implementation from react-native.
• It will include several bug fixes.
• You can use the library until the PR is merged and released with react-native.
• You can use side by side both components from react-native and react-native-improved, depending on where you need the fix.
• I will also publish the PR to facebook/react-native (daily fixes and releases).

The advantages would be:

• Increased engagement with the community, issues are quickly fixed.
• No limitations when merging PRs (react-native main branch is used on facebook marketplace).
• Only Meta employees can merge and review facebook/react-native PRs.
• Allows us to further experiment and develop react-native.

Do you want me to publish for you a patched release? I'm working on a list of priorities. Thanks

[johnlahut]

Use a <TextInput/> on iOS to allow multiple actions and use a regular <Text/> on Android. That will allow specific word selection on both platforms. No linking. No native libraries. Just use this:

import { Platform } from 'react-native';
// ...
{Platform.OS === 'ios' ? (
  // iOS requires a textinput for word selections
  <TextInput
    value={description}
    editable={false}
    multiline
  />
) : (
  // Android can do word selections just with <Text>
  <Text selectable>{description}</Text>
)}

Result, Android:

Result, iOS:

@scarlac Are you aware of a way to make the <TextInput/> component selectable in iOS without having multiline set? In a few of my components I don't want text to wrap, but I'd still like the visible text to be selectable.

[scarlac]

@johnlahut i'am not currently aware of a method but I haven't checked since that post so perhaps there are ways now that I'm not aware of. If you find one please share.

[AkbarBakhshi]

Use a <TextInput/> on iOS to allow multiple actions and use a regular <Text/> on Android. That will allow specific word selection on both platforms. No linking. No native libraries. Just use this:

import { Platform } from 'react-native';
// ...
{Platform.OS === 'ios' ? (
  // iOS requires a textinput for word selections
  <TextInput
    value={description}
    editable={false}
    multiline
  />
) : (
  // Android can do word selections just with <Text>
  <Text selectable>{description}</Text>
)}

Result, Android:

Result, iOS:

This worked for me. Thanks 👍 . For me adding scrollEnabled={false} to the TextInput also helped with some undesired scrolling..

[haileyok]

Dropping this here https://github.com/bluesky-social/react-native-uitextview

This works (mostly, it's a WIP but also not much time to fully implement everything) on iOS for text selection. Uses RN Text on Android and web since no changes are needed there, and a native component on iOS that uses UITextView over UILabel. We are using this in production though right now with no issues.

Contribs are more than welcome if you want to clean it up! Some styles are missing, etc. right now.

@fabOnReact Totally feel free to take it and clean it up if you ever want to. From what I've seen you do a lot of good work with Text so you probably have a way better idea of how to implement this than I do ❤️ (same to anyone else)

[lsarni]

In our case we need to have text formatting, and because the value of a TextInput can only be a string the workaround doesn't work. It would be great to have Text working on iOS the way it does on Android.

[bubblesunyum]

surprised & devastated that this is not a react native feature :(
+1 to prioritize this since text is a fundamental piece of most apps and should be fully natively supported

[princektripathi]

Hello @cipolleschi , @cortinico,

I debugged the partial text selection issue because it intrigued me, especially since it’s been open since 2017. Here are my findings:

• RCTParagraphTextView extends UIView, which does not support partial text selection.
• Partial text selection is only available in UIKit’s UITextView. Also, neither Text nor any View in SwiftUI supports partial selection.

Possible Solution

• To support partial text selection, we would need to use UIKit’s UITextView.
• Alternatively, we could implement custom partial text selection logic within UIView.

Cons

• Using UITextView could limit the flexibility of custom drawing we initially intended by extending UIView.
• Implementing custom partial selection logic adds unnecessary complexity, as it bypasses the native capabilities of UITextView

I created a sample app showcasing all major combinations of selectable texts:

• UIKit: UITextView, UIView (manual text selection handling).
• SwiftUI: Text, UIViewRepresentable (manual text selection handling).

Sample - https://github.com/PrinceK001/RNPlayground

Could you please validate my understanding?

API Ref -

[princektripathi]

@cortinico, @cipolleschi, there is another issue reported citing the exact same behaviour. Looking forward to hear your opinion and conclude this issue.

#33494

[react-native-bot]

This issue is stale because it has been open 180 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 7 days.

[react-native-bot]

This issue was closed because it has been stalled for 7 days with no activity.

[lsarni]

The issue isn't resolved

[ashutoshup99]

Is there any solution for this till now ?

[colaquecez]

I created that lib for android: https://github.com/colaquecez/expo-selectable-text, but I need to spend more time on it to make it better.

[react-native-bot]

This issue is stale because it has been open 180 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 7 days.

[CanRau]

Please don't close 🫪

[elstgav]

This is still an issue: #55187 - Text prop selectable not working since upgrade on iOS 26

[aretrace]

What should we make of this? 9+ years. A fair point would be that if 'we' all want it so much, 'we' should code it up. But solutions have been made, yet no real progress has been done.
Doesn't anyone find this strange? These long issues (e.g., the Gnome file picker thumbnail fiasco) are so universally wanted and objectively needed but remain frozen for decades.
I think a new field of open source anthropology should start; I suspect there is more here than meets the eye.

[raajnadar]

I tried to solve #58363. Can someone look into it?