Create and style a text field

Text fields allow users to type text into an app. They are used to build forms, send messages, create search experiences, and more. In this recipe, explore how to create and style text fields.

Flutter provides two text fields: TextField and TextFormField.

TextField is the most commonly used text input widget.

By default, a TextField is decorated with an underline. You can add a label, icon, inline hint text, and error text by supplying an InputDecoration as the decoration property of the TextField. To remove the decoration entirely (including the underline and the space reserved for the label), set the decoration to null.

TextField(
  decoration: InputDecoration(
    border: OutlineInputBorder(),
    hintText: 'Enter a search term',
  ),
),

To retrieve the value when it changes, see the Handle changes to a text field recipe.

TextFormField wraps a TextField and integrates it with the enclosing Form. This provides additional functionality, such as validation and integration with other FormField widgets.

TextFormField(
  decoration: const InputDecoration(
    border: UnderlineInputBorder(),
    labelText: 'Enter your username',
  ),
),

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() => runApp(const MyApp());

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    const appTitle = 'Form Styling Demo';
    return MaterialApp(
      title: appTitle,
      home: Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(
          title: const Text(appTitle),
        ),
        body: const MyCustomForm(),
      ),
    );
  }
}

class MyCustomForm extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyCustomForm({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Column(
      crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
      children: <Widget>[
        const Padding(
          padding: EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 8, vertical: 16),
          child: TextField(
            decoration: InputDecoration(
              border: OutlineInputBorder(),
              hintText: 'Enter a search term',
            ),
          ),
        ),
        Padding(
          padding: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 8, vertical: 16),
          child: TextFormField(
            decoration: const InputDecoration(
              border: UnderlineInputBorder(),
              labelText: 'Enter your username',
            ),
          ),
        ),
      ],
    );
  }
}

For more information on input validation, see the Building a form with validation recipe.