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A text box, '''text field''' or '''text entry box''' is a common element of Graphical User Interface of computer programs, as well as the corresponding type of Widget used when programming GUI s. A text box's purpose is to allow the user to input text information to be used by the program. Non-editable text boxes can serve the purpose of simply displaying text.

A typical text box is a rectangle of any size, possibly with a border that separates the text box from the rest of the interface. Text boxes may contain zero, one, or two Scrollbars . Some text boxes may display a blinking vertical line (known as a Caret ), indicating the current region of text being edited. It is common for the Mouse Cursor to change its shape when it hovers over a text box.

An example of a text box is used in the ''Go/Search'' feature on every page of Wikipedia .


STANDARD FUNCTIONALITY

Typical implementations allow a user to do the following
  • Type in text using a keyboard

  • --- The text appears when pressing keys in the position indicated by the Caret . Some very simple text boxes may not show a caret, which would suggest that new characters typed in will appear at the end of the current text.

  • Navigate and select portions of text

  • --- Using a mouse

  • -- Change caret position by clicking the desired point with a mouse cursor

  • -- Select a portion of text by pressing the main mouse button while pointing the cursor at one end of the desired part of text and dragging the cursor to the other end while holding the button pressed

  • --- Using keyboard

  • -- Pressing Arrow keys changes caret position by one character or line (in multiline text boxes).

  • -- Pressing Home/End keys moves the caret to the beginning/end of the line.

  • -- Pressing Page Up/Down moves the caret a page (the number of lines that can be displayed in the text box at a time) backward/forward

  • -- Holding Ctrl key while pressing arrow keys or Home/End keys makes the caret move at larger steps - e.g. words or paragraphs or beginning/end of document

  • -- Holding the Shift key while changing the caret position with a mouse or keyboard selects the text between the caret position from when shift was first pressed and its current position

  • Edit the text (enable changing the text already entered)

  • --- Work in insert or overwrite mode, typically switched using Insert Key . In insert mode if there is a character to the right of the caret - the new character will be inserted before it. In overwrite mode the caret will usually be wider - covering the next character and typing a new character will replace (overwrite) the character to the right of the caret position

  • --- Typing in a text while some part of the text already entered is selected will replace the selected text

  • --- Delete / Backspace keys remove one character right/left of current caret position, while pressing them together with the Ctrl key remove one word

  • --- Edit the text using standard Clipboard operations

  • Undo/Redo changes (with Ctrl+Z/Ctrl+Y)


The keys indicated relate to the text box widget on Microsoft Windows; similar if not identical keyboard bindings exist under the X Window System , Mac OS X , and other systems.