How to check if an EditText was changed or not?

Question

I need to know if an EditText was changed or not, not whether or not the user inputted some text in the field, but only the if String was changed.

Answer 1

You need a TextWatcher

See it here in action:

EditText text = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.YOUR_ID); text.addTextChangedListener(textWatcher);   private TextWatcher textWatcher = new TextWatcher() {    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {   }    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {   }    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before,           int count) {    } } 

Answer 2

If you change your mind to listen to the keystrokes you can use OnKeyListener

    EditText et = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.search_box);       et.setOnKeyListener(new View.OnKeyListener() {          @Override         public boolean onKey(View v, int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {             //key listening stuff             return false;         }     }); 

But Johe's answer is what you need.