How do I clear a search box with an 'x' in bootstrap 3?

To get something like this

with Bootstrap 3 and Jquery use the following HTML code:

<div class="btn-group">
  <input id="searchinput" type="search" class="form-control">
  <span id="searchclear" class="glyphicon glyphicon-remove-circle"></span>
</div>

and some CSS:

#searchinput {
    width: 200px;
}
#searchclear {
    position: absolute;
    right: 5px;
    top: 0;
    bottom: 0;
    height: 14px;
    margin: auto;
    font-size: 14px;
    cursor: pointer;
    color: #ccc;
}

and Javascript:

$("#searchclear").click(function(){
    $("#searchinput").val('');
});

Of course you have to write more Javascript for whatever functionality you need, e.g. to hide the 'x' if the input is empty, make Ajax requests and so on. See http://www.bootply.com/121508

I tried to avoid too much custom CSS and after reading some other examples I merged the ideas there and got this solution:

<div class="form-group has-feedback has-clear">
    <input type="text" class="form-control" ng-model="ctrl.searchService.searchTerm" ng-change="ctrl.search()" placeholder="Suche"/>
    <a class="glyphicon glyphicon-remove-sign form-control-feedback form-control-clear" ng-click="ctrl.clearSearch()" style="pointer-events: auto; text-decoration: none;cursor: pointer;"></a>
</div>

As I don't use bootstrap's JavaScript, just the CSS together with Angular, I don't need the classes has-clear and form-control-clear, and I implemented the clear function in my AngularJS controller. With bootstrap's JavaScript this might be possible without own JavaScript.

Super-simple HTML 5 Solution:

<input type="search" placeholder="Search..." />

Source: HTML 5 Tutorial - Input Type: Search

That works in at least Chrome 8, Edge 14, IE 10, and Safari 5 and does not require Bootstrap or any other library. (Unfortunately, it seems Firefox does not support the search clear button yet.)

After typing in the search box, an 'x' will appear which can be clicked to clear the text. This will still work as an ordinary edit box (without the 'x' button) in other browsers, such as Firefox, so Firefox users could instead select the text and press delete, or...

If you really need this nice-to-have feature supported in Firefox, then you could implement one of the other solutions posted here as a polyfill for input[type=search] elements. A polyfill is code that automatically adds a standard browser feature when the user's browser doesn't support the feature. Over time, the hope is that you'd be able to remove polyfills as browsers implement the respective features. And in any case, a polyfill implementation can help to keep the HTML code cleaner.

By the way, other HTML 5 input types (such as "date", "number", "email", etc.) will also degrade gracefully to a plain edit box. Some browsers might give you a fancy date picker, a spinner control with up/down buttons, or (on mobile phones) a special keyboard that includes the '@' sign and a '.com' button, but to my knowledge, all browsers will at least show a plain text box for any unrecognized input type.

Bootstrap 3 & HTML 5 Solution

Bootstrap 3 resets a lot of CSS and breaks the HTML 5 search cancel button. After the Bootstrap 3 CSS has been loaded, you can restore the search cancel button with the CSS used in the following example:

<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>
<style>
  input[type="search"]::-webkit-search-cancel-button {
    -webkit-appearance: searchfield-cancel-button;
  }
</style>
<div class="form-inline">
  <input type="search" placeholder="Search..." class="form-control" />
</div>

Source: HTML 5 Search Input Does Not Work with Bootstrap

I have tested that this solution works in the latest versions of Chrome, Edge, and Internet Explorer. I am not able to test in Safari. Unfortunately, the 'x' button to clear the search does not appear in Firefox, but as above, a polyfill could be implemented for browsers that don't support this feature natively (i.e. Firefox).