Dynamically Adjust HTML Text Input Width to Conten

Question

I can't quite find a clear answer on this, and excuse me if there is one I've missed.

I want my text input widths to automatically adjust to the size of the content within them. First with placeholder text than the actual text someone inputs.

I've created the below as an example. Currently, the boxes are far bigger than my placeholder text, causing huge amounts of white space, and it's obviously the same thing when I type in something.

I've tried width auto, some jQuery, and twine and bubble gum I found on the internet. But nothing has worked yet. Any thoughts? Thanks!

HTML:

<span><p>Hello, my name is </p></span>

<span><input type="text" id="input" class="form" placeholder="name"></span>

<span><p>. I am </p></span>

<span><input type="text" id="input" class="form" placeholder="age"></span>

    <span><p> years old.</p></span>

CSS:

.form {
    border: 0;
    text-align: center;
    outline: none;
}

span {
    display: inline-block;
}

p {
    font-family: arial;
}

Fiddle

Answer 1

Use onkeypress even

see this example :http://jsfiddle.net/kevalbhatt18/yug04jau/7/

<input id="txt" placeholder="name" class="form" type="text" onkeypress="this.style.width = ((this.value.length + 1) * 8) + 'px';"></span>

And for placeholder on load use jquery and apply placeholder size in to input

$('input').css('width',((input.getAttribute('placeholder').length + 1) * 8) + 'px');

Even you can use id instead of input this is just an example so that I used $(input)

And in css provide min-width

.form {
    border: 1px solid black;
    text-align: center;
    outline: none;
    min-width:4px;
}

---

EDIT:

---

If you remove all text from input box then it will take placeholder value using focusout

Example: http://jsfiddle.net/kevalbhatt18/yug04jau/8/

$("input").focusout(function(){

    if(this.value.length>0){
        this.style.width = ((this.value.length + 1) * 8) + 'px';
    }else{
      this.style.width = ((this.getAttribute('placeholder').length + 1) * 8) + 'px';
    }

});

Answer 2

Try with 'size' attribute. This will work even when you clear the text . Need jQuery to work this

<div>
    <input id="txt" type="text" style="max-width: 100%;" placeholder="name">
</div>
<script>
    $(document).ready(function() {
        var placeholderLen = $('#txt').attr('placeholder').length;
        // keep some default lenght
        placeholderLen = Math.max(5, placeholderLen);
        $('#txt').attr('size', placeholderLen);

        $('#txt').keydown(function() {
            var size = $(this).val().length;
            $(this).attr('size', Math.max(placeholderLen, size));
        });
    });
</script>

Answer 3

input.addEventListener('input', () => input.style.width = input.scrollWidth);

Unfortunately this will only increase the size of the input. If you delete characters the size will not decrease. For some use cases this is perfectly fine.

Answer 4

Kevin F is right, there is no native way to do it.

Here is a one way to do it if you really want it to happen.

In the code, there is an invisible span where the text is placed. Then we retrieve the width of the span.

https://jsfiddle.net/r02ma1n0/1/

var testdiv = $("#testdiv");
$("input").keydown( function(){
    var ME = $(this);
    //Manual Way
    //var px = 6.5;
    //var txtlength = ME.val().length;
    //$(this).css({width: txtlength * px });

   testdiv.html( ME.val() + "--");
   var txtlength = testdiv.width();
   ME.css({width: txtlength  }); 
});

Answer 5

One possible way:

[contenteditable=true]:empty:before {
  content: attr(placeholder);
  color:gray;
}
/* found this online --- it prevents the user from being able to make a (visible) newline */
[contenteditable=true] br{
  display:none;
}

<p>Hello, my name is <span id="name" contenteditable="true" placeholder="name"></span>. I am <span id="age" contenteditable="true" placeholder="age"></span> years old.</p>

Source for CSS: http://codepen.io/flesler/pen/AEIFc.

You'll have to do some trickery to pick up the values if you need the values for a form.