QTextEdit Class Reference
[QtGui module]

Editing Key Bindings

The list of key bindings which are implemented for editing:

To select (mark) text hold down the Shift key whilst pressing one of the movement keystrokes, for example, Shift+Right will select the character to the right, and Shift+Ctrl+Right will select the word to the right, etc.

See also QTextDocument, QTextCursor, Application Example, Syntax Highlighter Example, and Rich Text Processing.

Member Type Documentation

enum QTextEdit::AutoFormattingFlag
flags QTextEdit::AutoFormatting

The AutoFormatting type is a typedef for QFlags<AutoFormattingFlag>. It stores an OR combination of AutoFormattingFlag values.

enum QTextEdit::LineWrapMode

Property Documentation

acceptRichText : bool

This property holds whether the text edit accepts rich text insertions by the user.

When this propery is set to false text edit will accept only plain text input from the user. For example through clipboard or drag and drop.

This property's default is true.

This property was introduced in Qt 4.1.

Access functions:

• bool acceptRichText () const
• void setAcceptRichText ( bool accept )

autoFormatting : AutoFormatting

This property holds the enabled set of auto formatting features.

The value can be any combination of the values in the AutoFormattingFlag enum. The default is AutoNone. Choose AutoAll to enable all automatic formatting.

Currently, the only automatic formatting feature provided is AutoBulletList; future versions of Qt may offer more.

Access functions:

• AutoFormatting autoFormatting () const
• void setAutoFormatting ( AutoFormatting features )

cursorWidth : int

This property specifies the width of the cursor in pixels. The default value is 1.

This property was introduced in Qt 4.2.

Access functions:

• int cursorWidth () const
• void setCursorWidth ( int width )

documentTitle : QString

This property holds the title of the document parsed from the text.

By default, for a newly-created, empty document, this property contains an empty string.

Access functions:

• QString documentTitle () const
• void setDocumentTitle ( const QString & title )

html : QString

This property provides an HTML interface to the text of the text edit.

toHtml() returns the text of the text edit as html.

setHtml() changes the text of the text edit. Any previous text is removed and the undo/redo history is cleared. The input text is interpreted as rich text in html format.

Note: It is the responsibility of the caller to make sure that the text is correctly decoded when a QString containing HTML is created and passed to setHtml().

By default, for a newly-created, empty document, this property contains text to describe an HTML 4.0 document with no body text.

Access functions:

• QString toHtml () const
• void setHtml ( const QString & text )

See also Supported HTML Subset and plainText.

lineWrapColumnOrWidth : int

This property holds the position (in pixels or columns depending on the wrap mode) where text will be wrapped.

If the wrap mode is FixedPixelWidth, the value is the number of pixels from the left edge of the text edit at which text should be wrapped. If the wrap mode is FixedColumnWidth, the value is the column number (in character columns) from the left edge of the text edit at which text should be wrapped.

By default, this property contains a value of 0.

Access functions:

• int lineWrapColumnOrWidth () const
• void setLineWrapColumnOrWidth ( int w )

See also lineWrapMode.

lineWrapMode : LineWrapMode

This property holds the line wrap mode.

The default mode is WidgetWidth which causes words to be wrapped at the right edge of the text edit. Wrapping occurs at whitespace, keeping whole words intact. If you want wrapping to occur within words use setWordWrapMode(). If you set a wrap mode of FixedPixelWidth or FixedColumnWidth you should also call setLineWrapColumnOrWidth() with the width you want.

Access functions:

• LineWrapMode lineWrapMode () const
• void setLineWrapMode ( LineWrapMode mode )

See also lineWrapColumnOrWidth.

overwriteMode : bool

This property holds whether text entered by the user will overwrite existing text.

As with many text editors, the text editor widget can be configured to insert or overwrite existing text with new text entered by the user.

If this property is true, existing text is overwritten, character-for-character by new text; otherwise, text is inserted at the cursor position, displacing existing text.

By default, this property is false (new text does not overwrite existing text).

This property was introduced in Qt 4.1.

Access functions:

• bool overwriteMode () const
• void setOverwriteMode ( bool overwrite )

plainText : QString

This property gets and sets the text editor's contents as plain text. Previous contents are removed and undo/redo history is reset when the property is set.

If the text edit has another content type, it will not be replaced by plain text if you call toPlainText().

By default, for an editor with no contents, this property contains an empty string.

This property was introduced in Qt 4.3.

Access functions:

• QString toPlainText () const
• void setPlainText ( const QString & text )

See also html.

readOnly : bool

This property holds whether the text edit is read-only.

In a read-only text edit the user can only navigate through the text and select text; modifying the text is not possible.

This property's default is false.

Access functions:

• bool isReadOnly () const
• void setReadOnly ( bool ro )

tabChangesFocus : bool

This property holds whether Tab changes focus or is accepted as input.

In some occasions text edits should not allow the user to input tabulators or change indentation using the Tab key, as this breaks the focus chain. The default is false.

Access functions:

• bool tabChangesFocus () const
• void setTabChangesFocus ( bool b )

tabStopWidth : int

This property holds the tab stop width in pixels.

By default, this property contains a value of 80.

This property was introduced in Qt 4.1.

Access functions:

• int tabStopWidth () const
• void setTabStopWidth ( int width )

textInteractionFlags : Qt::TextInteractionFlags

Specifies how the widget should interact with user input.

The default value depends on whether the QTextEdit is read-only or editable, and whether it is a QTextBrowser or not.

This property was introduced in Qt 4.2.

Access functions:

• Qt::TextInteractionFlags textInteractionFlags () const
• void setTextInteractionFlags ( Qt::TextInteractionFlags flags )

undoRedoEnabled : bool

This property holds whether undo and redo are enabled.

Users are only able to undo or redo actions if this property is true, and if there is an action that can be undone (or redone).

Access functions:

• bool isUndoRedoEnabled () const
• void setUndoRedoEnabled ( bool enable )

wordWrapMode : QTextOption::WrapMode

This property holds the mode QTextEdit will use when wrapping text by words.

By default, this property is set to QTextOption::WrapAtWordBoundaryOrAnywhere.

Access functions:

• QTextOption::WrapMode wordWrapMode () const
• void setWordWrapMode ( QTextOption::WrapMode policy )

See also QTextOption::WrapMode.

Member Function Documentation

QTextEdit::QTextEdit ( QWidget * parent = 0 )

Constructs an empty QTextEdit with parent parent.

QTextEdit::QTextEdit ( const QString & text, QWidget * parent = 0 )

Constructs a QTextEdit with parent parent. The text edit will display the text text. The text is interpreted as html.

QTextEdit::~QTextEdit ()   [virtual]

Destructor.

Qt::Alignment QTextEdit::alignment () const

Returns the alignment of the current paragraph.

See also setAlignment().

QString QTextEdit::anchorAt ( const QPoint & pos ) const

Returns the reference of the anchor at position pos, or an empty string if no anchor exists at that point.

void QTextEdit::append ( const QString & text )   [slot]

Appends a new paragraph with text to the end of the text edit.

Note: The new paragraph appended will have the same character format and block format as the current paragraph, determined by the position of the cursor.

See also currentCharFormat() and QTextCursor::blockFormat().

bool QTextEdit::canInsertFromMimeData ( const QMimeData * source ) const   [virtual protected]

This function returns true if the contents of the MIME data object, specified by source, can be decoded and inserted into the document. It is called for example when during a drag operation the mouse enters this widget and it is necessary to determine whether it is possible to accept the drag and drop operation.

Reimplement this function to enable drag and drop support for additional MIME types.

bool QTextEdit::canPaste () const

Returns whether text can be pasted from the clipboard into the textedit.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

void QTextEdit::clear ()   [slot]

Deletes all the text in the text edit.

Note that the undo/redo history is cleared by this function.

See also cut(), setPlainText(), and setHtml().

void QTextEdit::contextMenuEvent ( QContextMenuEvent * event )   [virtual protected]

Shows the standard context menu created with createStandardContextMenu().

If you do not want the text edit to have a context menu, you can set its contextMenuPolicy to Qt::NoContextMenu. If you want to customize the context menu, reimplement this function. If you want to extend the standard context menu, reimplement this function, call createStandardContextMenu() and extend the menu returned.

Information about the event is passed in the event object.

 void MyTextEdit::contextMenuEvent(QContextMenuEvent *event)
 {
     QMenu *menu = createStandardContextMenu();
     menu->addAction(tr("My Menu Item"));
     //...
     menu->exec(event->globalPos());
     delete menu;
 }

Reimplemented from QWidget.

void QTextEdit::copy ()   [slot]

Copies any selected text to the clipboard.

See also copyAvailable().

void QTextEdit::copyAvailable ( bool yes )   [signal]

This signal is emitted when text is selected or de-selected in the text edit.

When text is selected this signal will be emitted with yes set to true. If no text has been selected or if the selected text is de-selected this signal is emitted with yes set to false.

If yes is true then copy() can be used to copy the selection to the clipboard. If yes is false then copy() does nothing.

See also selectionChanged().

QMimeData * QTextEdit::createMimeDataFromSelection () const   [virtual protected]

This function returns a new MIME data object to represent the contents of the text edit's current selection. It is called when the selection needs to be encapsulated into a new QMimeData object; for example, when a drag and drop operation is started, or when data is copyied to the clipboard.

If you reimplement this function, note that the ownership of the returned QMimeData object is passed to the caller. The selection can be retrieved by using the textCursor() function.

QMenu * QTextEdit::createStandardContextMenu ()

This function creates the standard context menu which is shown when the user clicks on the text edit with the right mouse button. It is called from the default contextMenuEvent() handler. The popup menu's ownership is transferred to the caller.

We recommend that you use the createStandardContextMenu(QPoint) version instead which will enable the actions that are sensitive to where the user clicked.

QMenu * QTextEdit::createStandardContextMenu ( const QPoint & position )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience.

This function creates the standard context menu which is shown when the user clicks on the text edit with the right mouse button. It is called from the default contextMenuEvent() handler and it takes the position of where the mouse click was. This can enable actions that are sensitive to the position where the user clicked. The popup menu's ownership is transferred to the caller.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.4.

QTextCharFormat QTextEdit::currentCharFormat () const

Returns the char format that is used when inserting new text.

See also setCurrentCharFormat().

void QTextEdit::currentCharFormatChanged ( const QTextCharFormat & f )   [signal]

This signal is emitted if the current character format has changed, for example caused by a change of the cursor position.

The new format is f.

See also setCurrentCharFormat().

QFont QTextEdit::currentFont () const

Returns the font of the current format.

See also setCurrentFont(), setFontFamily(), and setFontPointSize().

QTextCursor QTextEdit::cursorForPosition ( const QPoint & pos ) const

returns a QTextCursor at position pos (in viewport coordinates).

void QTextEdit::cursorPositionChanged ()   [signal]

This signal is emitted whenever the position of the cursor changed.

QRect QTextEdit::cursorRect ( const QTextCursor & cursor ) const

returns a rectangle (in viewport coordinates) that includes the cursor.

QRect QTextEdit::cursorRect () const

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience.

returns a rectangle (in viewport coordinates) that includes the cursor of the text edit.

void QTextEdit::cut ()   [slot]

Copies the selected text to the clipboard and deletes it from the text edit.

If there is no selected text nothing happens.

See also copy() and paste().

QTextDocument * QTextEdit::document () const

Returns a pointer to the underlying document.

See also setDocument().

void QTextEdit::ensureCursorVisible ()

Ensures that the cursor is visible by scrolling the text edit if necessary.

QList<ExtraSelection> QTextEdit::extraSelections () const

Returns previously set extra selections.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also setExtraSelections().

bool QTextEdit::find ( const QString & exp, QTextDocument::FindFlags options = 0 )

Finds the next occurrence of the string, exp, using the given options. Returns true if exp was found and changes the cursor to select the match; otherwise returns false.

QString QTextEdit::fontFamily () const

Returns the font family of the current format.

See also setFontFamily(), setCurrentFont(), and setFontPointSize().

bool QTextEdit::fontItalic () const

Returns true if the font of the current format is italic; otherwise returns false.

See also setFontItalic().

qreal QTextEdit::fontPointSize () const

Returns the point size of the font of the current format.

See also setFontFamily(), setCurrentFont(), and setFontPointSize().

bool QTextEdit::fontUnderline () const

Returns true if the font of the current format is underlined; otherwise returns false.

See also setFontUnderline().

int QTextEdit::fontWeight () const

Returns the font weight of the current format.

See also setFontWeight(), setCurrentFont(), setFontPointSize(), and QFont::Weight.

void QTextEdit::insertFromMimeData ( const QMimeData * source )   [virtual protected]

This function inserts the contents of the MIME data object, specified by source, into the text edit at the current cursor position. It is called whenever text is inserted as the result of a clipboard paste operation, or when the text edit accepts data from a drag and drop operation.

Reimplement this function to enable drag and drop support for additional MIME types.

void QTextEdit::insertHtml ( const QString & text )   [slot]

Convenience slot that inserts text which is assumed to be of html formatting at the current cursor position.

It is equivalent to:

 edit->textCursor().insertHtml(fragment);

Note: When using this function with a style sheet, the style sheet will only apply to the current block in the document. In order to apply a style sheet throughout a document, use QTextDocument::setDefaultStyleSheet() instead.

void QTextEdit::insertPlainText ( const QString & text )   [slot]

Convenience slot that inserts text at the current cursor position.

It is equivalent to

 edit->textCursor().insertText(text);

QVariant QTextEdit::loadResource ( int type, const QUrl & name )   [virtual]

Loads the resource specified by the given type and name.

This function is an extension of QTextDocument::loadResource().

See also QTextDocument::loadResource().

void QTextEdit::mergeCurrentCharFormat ( const QTextCharFormat & modifier )

Merges the properties specified in modifier into the current character format by calling QTextCursor::mergeCharFormat on the editor's cursor. If the editor has a selection then the properties of modifier are directly applied to the selection.

See also QTextCursor::mergeCharFormat().

void QTextEdit::moveCursor ( QTextCursor::MoveOperation operation, QTextCursor::MoveMode mode = QTextCursor::MoveAnchor )

Moves the cursor by performing the given operation.

If mode is QTextCursor::KeepAnchor, the cursor selects the text it moves over. This is the same effect that the user achieves when they hold down the Shift key and move the cursor with the cursor keys.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also QTextCursor::movePosition().

void QTextEdit::paste ()   [slot]

Pastes the text from the clipboard into the text edit at the current cursor position.

If there is no text in the clipboard nothing happens.

To change the behavior of this function, i.e. to modify what QTextEdit can paste and how it is being pasted, reimplement the virtual canInsertFromMimeData() and insertFromMimeData() functions.

See also cut() and copy().

void QTextEdit::print ( QPrinter * printer ) const

Convenience function to print the text edit's document to the given printer. This is equivalent to calling the print method on the document directly except that this function also supports QPrinter::Selection as print range.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.3.

See also QTextDocument::print().

void QTextEdit::redo ()   [slot]

Redoes the last operation.

If there is no operation to redo, i.e. there is no redo step in the undo/redo history, nothing happens.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also undo().

void QTextEdit::redoAvailable ( bool available )   [signal]

This signal is emitted whenever redo operations become available (available is true) or unavailable (available is false).

void QTextEdit::scrollToAnchor ( const QString & name )   [slot]

Scrolls the text edit so that the anchor with the given name is visible; does nothing if the name is empty, or is already visible, or isn't found.

void QTextEdit::selectAll ()   [slot]

Selects all text.

See also copy(), cut(), and textCursor().

void QTextEdit::selectionChanged ()   [signal]

This signal is emitted whenever the selection changes.

See also copyAvailable().

void QTextEdit::setAlignment ( Qt::Alignment a )   [slot]

Sets the alignment of the current paragraph to a. Valid alignments are Qt::AlignLeft, Qt::AlignRight, Qt::AlignJustify and Qt::AlignCenter (which centers horizontally).

See also alignment().

void QTextEdit::setCurrentCharFormat ( const QTextCharFormat & format )

Sets the char format that is be used when inserting new text to format by calling QTextCursor::setCharFormat() on the editor's cursor. If the editor has a selection then the char format is directly applied to the selection.

See also currentCharFormat().

void QTextEdit::setCurrentFont ( const QFont & f )   [slot]

Sets the font of the current format to f.

See also currentFont(), setFontPointSize(), and setFontFamily().

void QTextEdit::setDocument ( QTextDocument * document )

Makes document the new document of the text editor.

Note: The editor does not take ownership of the document unless it is the document's parent object. The parent object of the provided document remains the owner of the object.

If the current document is a child of the text editor, then it is deleted.

See also document().

void QTextEdit::setExtraSelections ( const QList<ExtraSelection> & selections )

This function allows temporarily marking certain regions in the document with a given color, specified as selections. This can be useful for example in a programming editor to mark a whole line of text with a given background color to indicate the existence of a breakpoint.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also QTextEdit::ExtraSelection and extraSelections().

void QTextEdit::setFontFamily ( const QString & fontFamily )   [slot]

Sets the font family of the current format to fontFamily.

See also fontFamily() and setCurrentFont().

void QTextEdit::setFontItalic ( bool italic )   [slot]

If italic is true, sets the current format to italic; otherwise sets the current format to non-italic.

See also fontItalic().

void QTextEdit::setFontPointSize ( qreal s )   [slot]

Sets the point size of the current format to s.

Note that if s is zero or negative, the behavior of this function is not defined.

See also fontPointSize(), setCurrentFont(), and setFontFamily().

void QTextEdit::setFontUnderline ( bool underline )   [slot]

If underline is true, sets the current format to underline; otherwise sets the current format to non-underline.

See also fontUnderline().

void QTextEdit::setFontWeight ( int weight )   [slot]

Sets the font weight of the current format to the given weight, where the value used is in the range defined by the QFont::Weight enum.

See also fontWeight(), setCurrentFont(), and setFontFamily().

void QTextEdit::setText ( const QString & text )   [slot]

Sets the text edit's text. The text can be plain text or HTML and the text edit will try to guess the right format.

Use setHtml() or setPlainText() directly to avoid text edit's guessing.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also text().

void QTextEdit::setTextBackgroundColor ( const QColor & c )   [slot]

Sets the text background color of the current format to c.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.4.

See also textBackgroundColor().

void QTextEdit::setTextColor ( const QColor & c )   [slot]

Sets the text color of the current format to c.

See also textColor().

void QTextEdit::setTextCursor ( const QTextCursor & cursor )

Sets the visible cursor.

See also textCursor().

QColor QTextEdit::textBackgroundColor () const

Returns the text background color of the current format.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.4.

See also setTextBackgroundColor().

void QTextEdit::textChanged ()   [signal]

This signal is emitted whenever the document's content changes; for example, when text is inserted or deleted, or when formatting is applied.

QColor QTextEdit::textColor () const

Returns the text color of the current format.

See also setTextColor().

QTextCursor QTextEdit::textCursor () const

Returns a copy of the QTextCursor that represents the currently visible cursor. Note that changes on the returned cursor do not affect QTextEdit's cursor; use setTextCursor() to update the visible cursor.

See also setTextCursor().

void QTextEdit::undo ()   [slot]

Undoes the last operation.

If there is no operation to undo, i.e. there is no undo step in the undo/redo history, nothing happens.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also redo().

void QTextEdit::undoAvailable ( bool available )   [signal]

This signal is emitted whenever undo operations become available (available is true) or unavailable (available is false).

void QTextEdit::zoomIn ( int range = 1 )   [slot]

Zooms in on the text by making the base font size range points larger and recalculating all font sizes to be the new size. This does not change the size of any images.

See also zoomOut().

void QTextEdit::zoomOut ( int range = 1 )   [slot]

Zooms out on the text by making the base font size range points smaller and recalculating all font sizes to be the new size. This does not change the size of any images.

See also zoomIn().