How do I use InputFilter to limit characters in an EditText in Android?

I found this on another forum. Works like a champ.

InputFilter filter = new InputFilter() {
    public CharSequence filter(CharSequence source, int start, int end,
            Spanned dest, int dstart, int dend) {
        for (int i = start; i < end; i++) {
            if (!Character.isLetterOrDigit(source.charAt(i))) {
                return "";
            }
        }
        return null;
    }
};
edit.setFilters(new InputFilter[] { filter });

None of posted answers did work for me. I came with my own solution:

InputFilter filter = new InputFilter() {
    @Override
    public CharSequence filter(CharSequence source, int start, int end, Spanned dest, int dstart, int dend) {
        boolean keepOriginal = true;
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(end - start);
        for (int i = start; i < end; i++) {
            char c = source.charAt(i);
            if (isCharAllowed(c)) // put your condition here
                sb.append(c);
            else
                keepOriginal = false;
        }
        if (keepOriginal)
            return null;
        else {
            if (source instanceof Spanned) {
                SpannableString sp = new SpannableString(sb);
                TextUtils.copySpansFrom((Spanned) source, start, sb.length(), null, sp, 0);
                return sp;
            } else {
                return sb;
            }           
        }
    }

    private boolean isCharAllowed(char c) {
        return Character.isLetterOrDigit(c) || Character.isSpaceChar(c);
    }
}
editText.setFilters(new InputFilter[] { filter });

I have done something like this to keep it simple:

edit_text.filters = arrayOf(object : InputFilter {
    override fun filter(
        source: CharSequence?,
        start: Int,
        end: Int,
        dest: Spanned?,
        dstart: Int,
        dend: Int
    ): CharSequence? {
        return source?.subSequence(start, end)
            ?.replace(Regex("[^A-Za-z0-9 ]"), "")
    }
})

This way we are replacing all the unwanted characters in the new part of the source string with an empty string.

The edit_text variable is the EditText object we are referring to.

The code is written in kotlin.

In addition to the accepted answer, it is also possible to use e.g.: android:inputType="textCapCharacters" as an attribute of <EditText> in order to only accept upper case characters (and numbers).

First add into strings.xml:

<string name="vin_code_mask">0123456789abcdefghjklmnprstuvwxyz</string>

XML:

android:digits="@string/vin_code_mask"

Code in Kotlin:

edit_text.filters += InputFilter { source, start, end, _, _, _ ->
    val mask = getString(R.string.vin_code_mask)
    for (i in start until end) {
        if (!mask.contains(source[i])) {
            return@InputFilter ""
        }
    }
    null
}

Strange, but it works weirdly on emulator's soft keyboard.

Warning! The following code will filter all letters and other symbols except digits for software keyboards. Only digital keyboard will appear on smartphones.

edit_text.keyListener = DigitsKeyListener.getInstance(context.getString(R.string.vin_code_mask))

I also usually set maxLength, filters, inputType.

You can specify wanted characters in a regex and use it in InputFilter:

val regex = Regex("[a-zA-Z\\d ]")
    
editText.filters = arrayOf(InputFilter { source, _, _, _, _, _ ->
    source.filter { regex.matches(it.toString()) }
})

Notice, I didn't use \w character class, because it includes underscore _

This is how I created filter for the Name field in Edit Text.(First letter is CAPS, and allow only single space after every word.

public void setNameFilter() {
    InputFilter filter = new InputFilter() {
        @RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT)
        public CharSequence filter(CharSequence source, int start, int end,
                                   Spanned dest, int dstart, int dend) {
            for (int i = start; i < end; i++) {
                if (dend == 0) {
                    if (Character.isSpaceChar(source.charAt(i)) ||
                            !Character.isAlphabetic(source.charAt(i))) {
                        return Constants.Delimiter.BLANK;
                    } else {
                        return String.valueOf(source.charAt(i)).toUpperCase();
                    }
                } else if (Character.isSpaceChar(source.charAt(i)) &&
                        String.valueOf(dest).endsWith(Constants.Delimiter.ONE_SPACE)) {
                    return Constants.Delimiter.BLANK;
                } else if ((!Character.isSpaceChar(source.charAt(i)) &&
                        !Character.isAlphabetic(source.charAt(i)))) {
                    return Constants.Delimiter.BLANK;
                }
            }
            return null;
        }
    };
    editText.setFilters(new InputFilter[]{filter, new InputFilter.LengthFilter(Constants.Length.NAME_LENGTH)});
}

I have the same answer in Kotlin:

/**
 * Returns the filter of the editText'es CharSequence value when [filterType] is:
 * 1 -> letters; 2 -> letters and digits; 3 -> digits;
 * 4 -> digits and dots
 */
class InputFilterAlphanumeric(private val filterType: Int): InputFilter {
    override fun filter(source: CharSequence?, start: Int, end: Int, dest: Spanned?, dstart: Int, dend: Int): CharSequence {
        (source as? SpannableStringBuilder)?.let {sourceAsSpannableBuilder  ->
            for (i in (end - 1) downTo start) {
                val currentChar = source[i]
                when(filterType) {
                    1 -> {
                        if (!currentChar.isLetter() && !currentChar.isWhitespace()) {
                            sourceAsSpannableBuilder.delete(i, i + 1)
                        }
                    }
                    2 -> {
                        if (!currentChar.isLetterOrDigit() && !currentChar.isWhitespace()) {
                            sourceAsSpannableBuilder.delete(i, i + 1)
                        }
                    }
                    3 -> {
                        if (!currentChar.isDigit()) {
                            sourceAsSpannableBuilder.delete(i, i + 1)
                        }
                    }
                    4 -> {
                        if (!currentChar.isDigit() || !currentChar.toString().contains(".")) {
                            sourceAsSpannableBuilder.delete(i, i + 1)
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            return source
        } ?: run {
            val filteredStringBuilder = StringBuilder()
            for (i in start until end) {
                val currentChar = source?.get(i)
                when(filterType) {
                    1 -> {
                        if (currentChar?.isLetter()!! || currentChar.isWhitespace()) {
                            filteredStringBuilder.append(currentChar)
                        }
                    }
                    2 -> {
                        if (currentChar?.isLetterOrDigit()!! || currentChar.isWhitespace()) {
                            filteredStringBuilder.append(currentChar)
                        }
                    }
                    3 -> {
                        if (currentChar?.isDigit()!!) {
                            filteredStringBuilder.append(currentChar)
                        }
                    }
                    4 -> {
                        if (currentChar?.isDigit()!! || currentChar.toString().contains(".")) {
                            filteredStringBuilder.append(currentChar)
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            return filteredStringBuilder
        }
    }
}

and get the class with an Extension function:

fun EditText.filterByDataType(filterType: Int) {
    this.filters = arrayOf<InputFilter>(InputFilterAlphanumeric(filterType))
}