How to Set Placeholder for Entry Widget in Tkinter Python

Set Placeholder for Entry Widget in Tkinter Python

In Tkinter, the Entry widget does not have a built-in placeholder (hint text) feature like modern GUI frameworks. However, you can create a placeholder effect by inserting default text and binding events to clear or restore it when the user interacts with the widget.

To set a placeholder in an Entry widget, we can use the following approach:

• Insert the placeholder text when the widget is created.
• Bind the <FocusIn> event to clear the text when the user clicks inside the entry.
• Bind the <FocusOut> event to restore the placeholder if the field is empty.

In this tutorial, we will go through multiple examples demonstrating how to implement a placeholder in the Tkinter Entry widget.

Examples

1. Basic Placeholder for Entry Widget

In this example, we create an entry field with a placeholder that disappears when clicked and reappears if left empty.

main.py

import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Placeholder Entry Example - tutorialkart.com")
root.geometry("400x200")

def on_entry_click(event):
    if entry.get() == "Enter your name":
        entry.delete(0, tk.END)
        entry.config(fg="black")

def on_focus_out(event):
    if not entry.get():
        entry.insert(0, "Enter your name")
        entry.config(fg="grey")

entry = tk.Entry(root, fg="grey")
entry.insert(0, "Enter your name")
entry.bind("<FocusIn>", on_entry_click)
entry.bind("<FocusOut>", on_focus_out)
entry.pack(pady=20)

root.mainloop()

Output in Windows:

When user clicks on the Entry widget, the placeholder disappears and a cursor appears as shown in the following screenshot.

2. Placeholder for Entry with Custom Font and Color

This example extends the previous one by adding a custom font and modifying the placeholder color.

main.py

import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Custom Placeholder Example - tutorialkart.com")
root.geometry("400x200")

def on_entry_click(event):
    if entry.get() == "Enter email address":
        entry.delete(0, tk.END)
        entry.config(fg="black", font=("Arial", 12))

def on_focus_out(event):
    if not entry.get():
        entry.insert(0, "Enter email address")
        entry.config(fg="grey", font=("Arial", 12, "italic"))

entry = tk.Entry(root, fg="grey", font=("Arial", 12, "italic"))
entry.insert(0, "Enter email address")
entry.bind("<FocusIn>", on_entry_click)
entry.bind("<FocusOut>", on_focus_out)
entry.pack(pady=20)

root.mainloop()

Output in Windows:

3. Multiple Entry Widgets with Different Placeholders

This example demonstrates how to use placeholders for multiple Entry widgets in a Tkinter form.

main.py

import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Multiple Placeholder Example - tutorialkart.com")
root.geometry("400x200")

def add_placeholder(entry, placeholder_text):
    def on_entry_click(event):
        if entry.get() == placeholder_text:
            entry.delete(0, tk.END)
            entry.config(fg="black")

    def on_focus_out(event):
        if not entry.get():
            entry.insert(0, placeholder_text)
            entry.config(fg="grey")

    entry.insert(0, placeholder_text)
    entry.config(fg="grey")
    entry.bind("<FocusIn>", on_entry_click)
    entry.bind("<FocusOut>", on_focus_out)

# Create Entry widgets with placeholders
entry_name = tk.Entry(root)
add_placeholder(entry_name, "Full Name")
entry_name.pack(pady=5)

entry_email = tk.Entry(root)
add_placeholder(entry_email, "Email Address")
entry_email.pack(pady=5)

entry_password = tk.Entry(root)
add_placeholder(entry_password, "Password")
entry_password.pack(pady=5)

root.mainloop()

Output in Windows:

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we explored how to implement placeholders in Tkinter’s Entry widget. Since Tkinter does not provide a built-in placeholder feature, we used event bindings to create one. The placeholder disappears when the user clicks inside the entry field and reappears if the field is left empty.

• Example 1 demonstrated a basic placeholder effect.
• Example 2 added custom font and styling.
• Example 3 implemented placeholders for multiple entry fields.