How do I put a clear button inside my HTML text input box like the iPhone does?
Nowadays with HTML5, it's pretty simple:
<input type="search" placeholder="Search..."/>
Most modern browsers will automatically render a usable clear button in the field by default.
(If you use Bootstrap, you'll have to add an override to your css file to make it show)
input[type=search]::-webkit-search-cancel-button {
-webkit-appearance: searchfield-cancel-button;
}
Safari/WebKit browsers can also provide extra features when using type="search", like results=5 and autosave="...", but they also override many of your styles (e.g. height, borders) . To prevent those overrides, while still retaining functionality like the X button, you can add this to your css:
input[type=search] {
-webkit-appearance: none;
}
See css-tricks.com for more info about the features provided by type="search".
Since HTML5, you could use <input type="search">. But this isn't necessarily customizable. In case you'd like to have full control over the UI, here are two kickoff examples. One with jQuery and another without.
With jQuery:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>SO question 2803532</title>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.min.js"></script>
<script>
$(document).ready(function() {
$('input.deletable').wrap('<span class="deleteicon"></span>').after($('<span>x</span>').click(function() {
$(this).prev('input').val('').trigger('change').focus();
}));
});
</script>
<style>
span.deleteicon {
position: relative;
display: inline-flex;
align-items: center;
}
span.deleteicon span {
position: absolute;
display: block;
right: 3px;
width: 15px;
height: 15px;
border-radius: 50%;
color: #fff;
background-color: #ccc;
font: 13px monospace;
text-align: center;
line-height: 1em;
cursor: pointer;
}
span.deleteicon input {
padding-right: 18px;
box-sizing: border-box;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<input type="text" class="deletable">
</body>
</html>Without jQuery
jQuery is not strictly necessary, it just nicely separates the logic needed for progressive enhancement from the source, you can of course also go ahead with plain HTML/CSS/JS:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>SO question 2803532, with "plain" HTML/CSS/JS</title>
<style>
span.deleteicon {
position: relative;
display: inline-flex;
align-items: center;
}
span.deleteicon span {
position: absolute;
display: block;
right: 3px;
width: 15px;
height: 15px;
border-radius: 50%;
color: #fff;
background-color: #ccc;
font: 13px monospace;
text-align: center;
line-height: 1em;
cursor: pointer;
}
span.deleteicon input {
padding-right: 18px;
box-sizing: border-box;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<span class="deleteicon">
<input type="text">
<span onclick="var input = this.previousElementSibling; input.value = ''; input.focus();">x</span>
</span>
</body>
</html>You only end up with uglier HTML (and non-crossbrowser compatible JS ;) ).
Again, if the UI look'n'feel isn't your biggest concern, but the functionality is, then just use <input type="search"> instead of <input type="text">. It'll show the (browser-specific) clear button on HTML5 capable browsers.
HTML5 introduces the 'search' input type that I believe does what you want.
<input type="search" />
Here's a live example.
Check out our jQuery-ClearSearch plugin. It's a configurable jQuery plugin - adapting it to your needs by styling the input field is straightforward. Just use it as follows:
<input class="clearable" type="text" placeholder="search">
<script type="text/javascript">
$('.clearable').clearSearch();
</script>
Example