SearchField

A search field allows a user to enter and clear a search query.

Example#

import {SearchField, Label, Input, Button} from 'react-aria-components';

<SearchField>
  <Label>Search</Label>
  <Input />
  <Button>✕</Button>
</SearchField>

import {
  Button,
  Input,
  Label,
  SearchField
} from 'react-aria-components';

<SearchField>
  <Label>Search</Label>
  <Input />
  <Button>✕</Button>
</SearchField>

import {
  Button,
  Input,
  Label,
  SearchField
} from 'react-aria-components';

<SearchField>
  <Label>Search</Label>
  <Input />
  <Button>✕</Button>
</SearchField>

.react-aria-SearchField {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-areas: "label label"
                       "input button"
                       "help  help";
  grid-template-columns: 1fr auto;
  align-items: center;
  width: fit-content;

  & input {
    grid-area: input;
    padding: 4px 24px 4px 4px;
    margin: 0;
    border: 1px solid var(--spectrum-global-color-gray-400);
    border-radius: 6px;
    background: var(--spectrum-global-color-gray-50);
    font-size: 16px;

    &::-webkit-search-cancel-button,
    &::-webkit-search-decoration {
      -webkit-appearance: none;
    }

    &:focus {
      outline: none;
      border-color: slateblue;
      box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px slateblue;
    }

    &:disabled {
      opacity: 0.4;
    }
  }

  & [slot=description] {
    grid-area: help;
    font-size: 12px;
  }

  & [slot=errorMessage] {
    grid-area: help;
    font-size: 12px;
    color: var(--spectrum-global-color-red-600);
  }

  & button {
    grid-area: button;
    width: 16px;
    height: 16px;
    border-radius: 16px;
    margin-left: -20px;
    background: gray;
    color: white;
    border: none;
    padding: 0;

    &[data-pressed] {
      background: dimgray;
    }

    &:disabled {
      opacity: 0.4;
    }
  }

  &[data-empty] button {
    display: none;
  }
}

.react-aria-SearchField {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-areas: "label label"
                       "input button"
                       "help  help";
  grid-template-columns: 1fr auto;
  align-items: center;
  width: fit-content;

  & input {
    grid-area: input;
    padding: 4px 24px 4px 4px;
    margin: 0;
    border: 1px solid var(--spectrum-global-color-gray-400);
    border-radius: 6px;
    background: var(--spectrum-global-color-gray-50);
    font-size: 16px;

    &::-webkit-search-cancel-button,
    &::-webkit-search-decoration {
      -webkit-appearance: none;
    }

    &:focus {
      outline: none;
      border-color: slateblue;
      box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px slateblue;
    }

    &:disabled {
      opacity: 0.4;
    }
  }

  & [slot=description] {
    grid-area: help;
    font-size: 12px;
  }

  & [slot=errorMessage] {
    grid-area: help;
    font-size: 12px;
    color: var(--spectrum-global-color-red-600);
  }

  & button {
    grid-area: button;
    width: 16px;
    height: 16px;
    border-radius: 16px;
    margin-left: -20px;
    background: gray;
    color: white;
    border: none;
    padding: 0;

    &[data-pressed] {
      background: dimgray;
    }

    &:disabled {
      opacity: 0.4;
    }
  }

  &[data-empty] button {
    display: none;
  }
}

.react-aria-SearchField {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-areas: "label label"
                       "input button"
                       "help  help";
  grid-template-columns: 1fr auto;
  align-items: center;
  width: fit-content;

  & input {
    grid-area: input;
    padding: 4px 24px 4px 4px;
    margin: 0;
    border: 1px solid var(--spectrum-global-color-gray-400);
    border-radius: 6px;
    background: var(--spectrum-global-color-gray-50);
    font-size: 16px;

    &::-webkit-search-cancel-button,
    &::-webkit-search-decoration {
      -webkit-appearance: none;
    }

    &:focus {
      outline: none;
      border-color: slateblue;
      box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px slateblue;
    }

    &:disabled {
      opacity: 0.4;
    }
  }

  & [slot=description] {
    grid-area: help;
    font-size: 12px;
  }

  & [slot=errorMessage] {
    grid-area: help;
    font-size: 12px;
    color: var(--spectrum-global-color-red-600);
  }

  & button {
    grid-area: button;
    width: 16px;
    height: 16px;
    border-radius: 16px;
    margin-left: -20px;
    background: gray;
    color: white;
    border: none;
    padding: 0;

    &[data-pressed] {
      background: dimgray;
    }

    &:disabled {
      opacity: 0.4;
    }
  }

  &[data-empty] button {
    display: none;
  }
}

Features#

Search fields can be built with <input type="search">, but these can be hard to style consistently cross browser. SearchField helps achieve accessible search fields that can be styled as needed.

• Clearable – A custom clear button can be shown to allow the input to be easily reset.
• Accessible – Uses a native <input type="search"> element, with support for the Enter and Escape keys to submit and clear the field, respectively. Label, description, and error message elements are automatically associated with the field.

Anatomy#

Search fields consist of an input element, a label, and an optional clear button. SearchField automatically manages the labeling and relationships between the elements, and handles keyboard events. Users can press the Escape key to clear the search field, or the Enter key to trigger the onSubmit event.

SearchField also supports optional description and error message elements, which can be used to provide more context about the field, and any validation messages. These are linked with the input via the aria-describedby attribute.

If there is no visual label, an aria-label or aria-labelledby prop must be passed instead to identify the element to screen readers.

Composed components#

A SearchField uses the following components, which may also be used standalone or reused in other components.

Props#

SearchField#

Label#

A <Label> accepts all HTML attributes.

Input#

An <Input> accepts all HTML attributes.

Button#

A <Button> accepts its contents as children. Other props such as onPress and isDisabled will be set by the SearchField.

Text#

<Text> accepts all HTML attributes.

Styling#

React Aria components can be styled in many ways, including using CSS classes, inline styles, utility classes (e.g. Tailwind), CSS-in-JS (e.g. Styled Components), etc. By default, all components include a builtin className attribute which can be targeted using CSS selectors. These follow the react-aria-ComponentName naming convention.

.react-aria-SearchField {
  /* ... */
}

.react-aria-SearchField {
  /* ... */
}

.react-aria-SearchField {
  /* ... */
}

A custom className can also be specified on any component. This overrides the default className provided by React Aria with your own.

<SearchField className="my-searchfield">
  {/* ... */}
</SearchField>

<SearchField className="my-searchfield">
  {/* ... */}
</SearchField>

<SearchField className="my-searchfield">
  {/* ... */}
</SearchField>;

In addition, some components support multiple UI states (e.g. focused, placeholder, readonly, etc.). React Aria components expose states using DOM attributes, which you can target in CSS selectors. These are ARIA attributes wherever possible, or data attributes when a relevant ARIA attribute does not exist. For example:

input[aria-invalid] {
  /* ... */
}

input[aria-readonly] {
  /* ... */
}

input[aria-invalid] {
  /* ... */
}

input[aria-readonly] {
  /* ... */
}

input[aria-invalid] {
  /* ... */
}

input[aria-readonly] {
  /* ... */
}

The className and style props also accept functions which receive states for styling. This lets you dynamically determine the classes or styles to apply, which is useful when using utility CSS libraries like Tailwind.

<Button
  className={({ isPressed }) => isPressed ? 'bg-gray-700' : 'bg-gray-600'}
/>;

<Button
  className={({ isPressed }) =>
    isPressed ? 'bg-gray-700' : 'bg-gray-600'}
/>;

<Button
  className={(
    { isPressed }
  ) =>
    isPressed
      ? 'bg-gray-700'
      : 'bg-gray-600'}
/>;

Render props may also be used as children to alter what elements are rendered based on the current state. For example, you could render the clear button only when the input is non-empty.

<SearchField>
  {({value}) => (
    <>
      <Label>Search</Label>
      <Input />
      {value !== '' && <Button>✕</Button>}
    </>
  )}
</SearchField>

<SearchField>
  {({value}) => (
    <>
      <Label>Search</Label>
      <Input />
      {value !== '' && <Button>✕</Button>}
    </>
  )}
</SearchField>

<SearchField>
  {({ value }) => (
    <>
      <Label>
        Search
      </Label>
      <Input />
      {value !== '' && (
        <Button>
          ✕
        </Button>
      )}
    </>
  )}
</SearchField>;

The states, selectors, and render props for each component used in a SearchField are documented below.

SearchField#

A SearchField can be targeted with the .react-aria-SearchField CSS selector, or by overriding with a custom className. It provides a SearchFieldState object to its render props, which can be used to customize the className, style, or children. In addition, it provides the following states as DOM attributes.

Label#

A Label can be targeted with the .react-aria-Label CSS selector, or by overriding with a custom className.

Input#

An Input can be targeted with the input CSS selector, or by adding a custom className.

Button#

A Button can be targeted with the button CSS selector, or by adding a custom className. It supports the following states:

Text#

The help text elements within a SearchField can be targeted with the [slot=description] and [slot=errorMessage] CSS selectors, or by adding a custom className.

Reusable wrappers#

If you will use a SearchField in multiple places in your app, you can wrap all of the pieces into a reusable component. This way, the DOM structure, styling code, and other logic are defined in a single place and reused everywhere to ensure consistency.

This example wraps SearchField and all of its children together into a single component which accepts a label prop, which is passed to the right place. It also shows how to use the description and errorMessage slots to render help text (see below for details).

import {Text} from 'react-aria-components';

function MySearchField({label, description, errorMessage, ...props}) {
  return (
    <SearchField {...props}>
      <Label>{label}</Label>
      <Input />
      <Button>✕</Button>
      {description && <Text slot="description">{description}</Text>}
      {errorMessage && <Text slot="errorMessage">{errorMessage}</Text>}
    </SearchField>
  );
}

<MySearchField label="Search" />

import {Text} from 'react-aria-components';

function MySearchField(
  { label, description, errorMessage, ...props }
) {
  return (
    <SearchField {...props}>
      <Label>{label}</Label>
      <Input />
      <Button>✕</Button>
      {description && (
        <Text slot="description">{description}</Text>
      )}
      {errorMessage && (
        <Text slot="errorMessage">{errorMessage}</Text>
      )}
    </SearchField>
  );
}

<MySearchField label="Search" />

import {Text} from 'react-aria-components';

function MySearchField(
  {
    label,
    description,
    errorMessage,
    ...props
  }
) {
  return (
    <SearchField
      {...props}
    >
      <Label>
        {label}
      </Label>
      <Input />
      <Button>✕</Button>
      {description && (
        <Text slot="description">
          {description}
        </Text>
      )}
      {errorMessage && (
        <Text slot="errorMessage">
          {errorMessage}
        </Text>
      )}
    </SearchField>
  );
}

<MySearchField label="Search" />

Usage#

The following examples show how to use the MySearchField component created in the above example.

Default value#

A SearchField's value is empty by default, but an initial, uncontrolled, value can be provided using the defaultValue prop.

<MySearchField
  label="Search"
  defaultValue="Puppies" />

<MySearchField
  label="Search"
  defaultValue="Puppies" />

<MySearchField
  label="Search"
  defaultValue="Puppies"
/>

Controlled value#

The value prop can be used to make the value controlled. The onChange event is fired when the user edits the text, and receives the new value.

function Example() {
  let [text, setText] = React.useState();

  return (
    <>
      <MySearchField label="Search" onChange={setText} />
      <p>Mirrored text: {text}</p>
    </>
  );
}

function Example() {
  let [text, setText] = React.useState();

  return (
    <>
      <MySearchField label="Search" onChange={setText} />
      <p>Mirrored text: {text}</p>
    </>
  );
}

function Example() {
  let [text, setText] =
    React.useState();

  return (
    <>
      <MySearchField
        label="Search"
        onChange={setText}
      />
      <p>
        Mirrored text:
        {' '}
        {text}
      </p>
    </>
  );
}

Events#

The most commonly used handlers for events in SearchField are the:

• onChange prop which is triggered whenever the value is edited by the user.
• onSubmit prop which is triggered whenever the value is submitted by the user (e.g. by pressing Enter).
• onClear prop which is triggered whenever the value is cleared by the user (e.g. by pressing clear button or Escape key).

The example below uses onChange, onSubmit, and onClear to update two separate elements with the text entered into the SearchField.

function Example() {
  let [currentText, setCurrentText] = React.useState('');
  let [submittedText, setSubmittedText] = React.useState('');

  return (
    <div>
      <MySearchField
        onClear={() => setCurrentText('')}
        onChange={setCurrentText}
        onSubmit={setSubmittedText}
        label="Your text"
        value={currentText}
      />
      <p>Mirrored text: {currentText}</p>
      <p>Submitted text: {submittedText}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

function Example() {
  let [currentText, setCurrentText] = React.useState('');
  let [submittedText, setSubmittedText] = React.useState(
    ''
  );

  return (
    <div>
      <MySearchField
        onClear={() => setCurrentText('')}
        onChange={setCurrentText}
        onSubmit={setSubmittedText}
        label="Your text"
        value={currentText}
      />
      <p>Mirrored text: {currentText}</p>
      <p>Submitted text: {submittedText}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

function Example() {
  let [
    currentText,
    setCurrentText
  ] = React.useState('');
  let [
    submittedText,
    setSubmittedText
  ] = React.useState('');

  return (
    <div>
      <MySearchField
        onClear={() =>
          setCurrentText(
            ''
          )}
        onChange={setCurrentText}
        onSubmit={setSubmittedText}
        label="Your text"
        value={currentText}
      />
      <p>
        Mirrored text:
        {' '}
        {currentText}
      </p>
      <p>
        Submitted text:
        {' '}
        {submittedText}
      </p>
    </div>
  );
}

Description#

The description slot can be used to associate additional help text with a search field.

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  description="Enter an email for us to contact you about your order."
/>

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  description="Enter an email for us to contact you about your order."
/>

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  description="Enter an email for us to contact you about your order."
/>

Error message#

The errorMessage slot can be used to help the user fix a validation error. It should be combined with the validationState prop to semantically mark the input element as invalid for assistive technologies.

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  validationState="invalid"
  errorMessage="Please enter a valid email address." />

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  validationState="invalid"
  errorMessage="Please enter a valid email address." />

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  validationState="invalid"
  errorMessage="Please enter a valid email address."
/>

Disabled#

A SearchField can be disabled using the isDisabled prop.

<MySearchField label="Email" isDisabled />

<MySearchField label="Email" isDisabled />

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  isDisabled
/>

Read only#

The isReadOnly boolean prop makes the SearchField's text content immutable. Unlike isDisabled, the SearchField remains focusable and the contents can still be copied. See the MDN docs for more information.

<MySearchField label="Email" defaultValue="abc@adobe.com" isReadOnly />

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  defaultValue="abc@adobe.com"
  isReadOnly
/>

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  defaultValue="abc@adobe.com"
  isReadOnly
/>

HTML forms#

SearchField supports the name prop for integration with HTML forms. In addition, attributes such as type, pattern, inputMode, and others are passed through to the underlying <input> element.

<MySearchField label="Email" name="email" type="email" />

<MySearchField label="Email" name="email" type="email" />

<MySearchField
  label="Email"
  name="email"
  type="email"
/>

Advanced customization#

Composition#

If you need to customize one of the components within a SearchField, such as Label or Input, in many cases you can create a wrapper component. This lets you customize the props passed to the component.

function MyInput(props) {
  return <MyInput {...props} className="my-input" />
}

function MyInput(props) {
  return <MyInput {...props} className="my-input" />
}

function MyInput(props) {
  return (
    <MyInput
      {...props}
      className="my-input"
    />
  );
}

Hooks#

If you need to customize things even further, such as accessing internal state or customizing DOM structure, you can drop down to the lower level Hook-based API. See useSearchField for more details.