To draw an Underline below the TextView in Android

Question

There are three ways of underling the text in TextView.

1. SpannableString

2. setPaintFlags(); of TextView

3. Html.fromHtml();

Let me explain you all approaches :

1st Approach

For underling the text in TextView you have to use SpannableString

String udata="Underlined Text";
SpannableString content = new SpannableString(udata);
content.setSpan(new UnderlineSpan(), 0, udata.length(), 0);
mTextView.setText(content);

2nd Approach

You can make use of setPaintFlags method of TextView to underline the text of TextView.

For eg.

mTextView.setPaintFlags(mTextView.getPaintFlags() | Paint.UNDERLINE_TEXT_FLAG);
mTextView.setText("This text will be underlined");

You can refer constants of Paint class if you want to strike thru the text.

3rd Approach

Make use of Html.fromHtml(htmlString);

String htmlString="<u>This text will be underlined</u>";
mTextView.setText(Html.fromHtml(htmlString));

OR

txtView.setText(Html.fromHtml("<u>underlined</u> text"));

just surround your text with < u > tag in your string.xml resource file

<string name="your_string"><u>Underlined text</u></string>

and in your Activity/Fragment

mTextView.setText(R.string.your_string);

Its works for me.

tv.setPaintFlags(Paint.UNDERLINE_TEXT_FLAG);

For anyone still looking at this querstion. This is for a hyperlink but you can modify it for just a plain underline:

Create a drawable (hyperlink_underline.xml):

<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <item android:top="-10dp"
        android:left="-10dp"
        android:right="-10dp">
    <shape android:shape="rectangle">
      <solid android:color="@android:color/transparent"/>

      <stroke android:width="2dp"
              android:color="#3498db"/>
    </shape>
  </item>
</layer-list>

Create a new style:

<style name="Hyperlink">
    <item name="android:textColor">#3498db</item>
    <item name="android:background">@drawable/hyperlink_underline</item>
  </style>

Then use this style on your TextView:

<TextView
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    local:MvxBind="Text Id; Click ShowJobInfoCommand"
    style="@style/HyperLink"/>

A simple and sustainable solution is to create a layer-list and make it as the background of your TextView:

<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item
        android:left="-5dp"
        android:right="-5dp"
        android:top="-5dp">
        <shape>
            <stroke
                android:width="1.5dp"
                android:color="@color/colorAccent" />
        </shape>
    </item>
</layer-list>