What difference between textMultiLine and textImeMultiLine in inputType EditText?

Question

I am trying to understand the difference between the textMultiLine and textImeMultiLine options for android:inputType in an EditText. However I have not been able to understand an answer. The documentation says

IME is a control enabling users to enter text.

but I don't understand how texMultiLine is different from textImeMultiLine.

Answer 1

TextImeMultiLine: Flag for TYPE_CLASS_TEXT: the regular text view associated with this should not be multi-line,

but when a fullscreen input method is providing text it should use multiple lines if it can.

TextMultiLine: Flag for TYPE_CLASS_TEXT: multiple lines of text can be entered into the field. If this flag is not set, the text field will be constrained to a single line. The IME may also choose not to display an enter key when this flag is not set, as there should be no need to create new lines.

Answer 2

What I was able discern in Googling it... TextImeMultiLine is for accepting text that is, "not directly represented on the keyboard," like from languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Ime is input method editor.

An IME (input-method editor) is an application that allows a standard keyboard (such as a US-101 keyboard) to be used to type characters and symbols that are not directly represented on the keyboard itself.

https://www.w3.org/TR/ime-api/#IME