Bootstrap Tags Input

jQuery plugin providing a Twitter Bootstrap user interface for managing tags

Check out this page for the latest version for Bootstrap 5 with pure JavaScript.

Code on Github Bootstrap 2.3.2 Download

Markup

Just add data-role="tagsinput" to your input field to automatically change it to a tags input field.

<input type="text" value="Amsterdam,Washington,Sydney,Beijing,Cairo" data-role="tagsinput" />
statementreturns
$("input").val()
$("input").tagsinput('items')

True multi value

Use a <select multiple /> as your input element for a tags input, to gain true multivalue support. Instead of a comma separated string, the values will be set in an array. Existing <option /> elements will automatically be set as tags. This makes it also possible to create tags containing a comma.

<select multiple data-role="tagsinput">
  <option value="Amsterdam">Amsterdam</option>
  <option value="Washington">Washington</option>
  <option value="Sydney">Sydney</option>
  <option value="Beijing">Beijing</option>
  <option value="Cairo">Cairo</option>
</select>
statementreturns
$("select").val()
$("select").tagsinput('items')

Typeahead

Typeahead is not included in Bootstrap 3, so you'll have to include your own typeahead library. I'd recommed typeahead.js. An example of using this is shown below.
<input type="text" value="Amsterdam,Washington" data-role="tagsinput" />
<script>
var citynames = new Bloodhound({
  datumTokenizer: Bloodhound.tokenizers.obj.whitespace('name'),
  queryTokenizer: Bloodhound.tokenizers.whitespace,
  prefetch: {
    url: 'assets/citynames.json',
    filter: function(list) {
      return $.map(list, function(cityname) {
        return { name: cityname }; });
    }
  }
});
citynames.initialize();

$('input').tagsinput({
  typeaheadjs: {
    name: 'citynames',
    displayKey: 'name',
    valueKey: 'name',
    source: citynames.ttAdapter()
  }
});
</script>
statementreturns
$("input").val()
$("input").tagsinput('items')

Objects as tags

Instead of just adding strings as tags, bind objects to your tags. This makes it possible to set id values in your input field's value, instead of just the tag's text.

<input type="text" />
<script>
var cities = new Bloodhound({
  datumTokenizer: Bloodhound.tokenizers.obj.whitespace('text'),
  queryTokenizer: Bloodhound.tokenizers.whitespace,
  prefetch: 'assets/cities.json'
});
cities.initialize();

var elt = $('input');
elt.tagsinput({
  itemValue: 'value',
  itemText: 'text',
  typeaheadjs: {
    name: 'cities',
    displayKey: 'text',
    source: cities.ttAdapter()
  }
});
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 1 , "text": "Amsterdam"   , "continent": "Europe"    });
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 4 , "text": "Washington"  , "continent": "America"   });
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 7 , "text": "Sydney"      , "continent": "Australia" });
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 10, "text": "Beijing"     , "continent": "Asia"      });
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 13, "text": "Cairo"       , "continent": "Africa"    });
</script>
statementreturns
$("input").val()
$("input").tagsinput('items')

Categorizing tags

You can set a fixed css class for your tags, or determine dynamically by providing a custom function.

<input type="text" />
<script>
var cities = new Bloodhound({
  datumTokenizer: Bloodhound.tokenizers.obj.whitespace('text'),
  queryTokenizer: Bloodhound.tokenizers.whitespace,
  prefetch: 'assets/cities.json'
});
cities.initialize();

var elt = $('input');
elt.tagsinput({
  tagClass: function(item) {
    switch (item.continent) {
      case 'Europe'   : return 'label label-primary';
      case 'America'  : return 'label label-danger label-important';
      case 'Australia': return 'label label-success';
      case 'Africa'   : return 'label label-default';
      case 'Asia'     : return 'label label-warning';
    }
  },
  itemValue: 'value',
  itemText: 'text',
  typeaheadjs: {
    name: 'cities',
    displayKey: 'text',
    source: cities.ttAdapter()
  }
});
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 1 , "text": "Amsterdam"   , "continent": "Europe"    });
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 4 , "text": "Washington"  , "continent": "America"   });
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 7 , "text": "Sydney"      , "continent": "Australia" });
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 10, "text": "Beijing"     , "continent": "Asia"      });
elt.tagsinput('add', { "value": 13, "text": "Cairo"       , "continent": "Africa"    });
</script>
statementreturns
$("input").val()
$("input").tagsinput('items')
option description
tagClass

Classname for the tags, or a function returning a classname

$('input').tagsinput({
  tagClass: 'big'
});
$('input').tagsinput({
  tagClass: function(item) {
    return (item.length > 10 ? 'big' : 'small');
  }
});
itemValue

When adding objects as tags, itemValue must be set to the name of the property containing the item's value, or a function returning an item's value.

$('input').tagsinput({
    itemValue: 'id'
});
$('input').tagsinput({
  itemValue: function(item) {
    return item.id;
  }
});
itemText

When adding objects as tags, you can set itemText to the name of the property of item to use for a its tag's text. You may also provide a function which returns an item's value. When this options is not set, the value of itemValue will be used.

$('input').tagsinput({
  itemText: 'label'
});
$('input').tagsinput({
  itemText: function(item) {
    return item.label;
  }
});
confirmKeys

Array of keycodes which will add a tag when typing in the input. (default: [13, 188], which are ENTER and comma)

$('input').tagsinput({
  confirmKeys: [13, 44]
});
maxTags

When set, no more than the given number of tags are allowed to add (default: undefined). When maxTags is reached, a class 'bootstrap-tagsinput-max' is placed on the tagsinput element.

$('input').tagsinput({
  maxTags: 3
});
maxChars

Defines the maximum length of a single tag. (default: undefined)

$('input').tagsinput({
  maxChars: 8
});
trimValue

When true, automatically removes all whitespace around tags. (default: false)

$('input').tagsinput({
  trimValue: true
});
allowDuplicates

When true, the same tag can be added multiple times. (default: false)

$('input').tagsinput({
  allowDuplicates: true
});
focusClass

When the input container has focus, the class specified by this config option will be applied to the container

$('input').tagsinput({
  focusClass: 'my-focus-class'
});
freeInput

Allow creating tags which are not returned by typeahead's source (default: true)

This is only possible when using string as tags. When itemValue option is set, this option will be ignored.
$('input').tagsinput({
  typeahead: {
    source: ['Amsterdam', 'Washington', 'Sydney', 'Beijing', 'Cairo']
  },
  freeInput: true
});
typeahead

Object containing typeahead specific options

source

An array (or function returning a promise or array), which will be used as source for a typeahead.

$('input').tagsinput({
  typeahead: {
    source: ['Amsterdam', 'Washington', 'Sydney', 'Beijing', 'Cairo']
  }
});
$('input').tagsinput({
  typeahead: {
    source: function(query) {
      return $.get('http://someservice.com');
    }
  }
});
cancelConfirmKeysOnEmpty

Boolean value controlling whether form submissions get processed when pressing enter in a field converted to a tagsinput (default: false).

$('input').tagsinput({
  cancelConfirmKeysOnEmpty: true
});
onTagExists

Function invoked when trying to add an item which allready exists. By default, the existing tag hides and fades in.

$('input').tagsinput({
  onTagExists: function(item, $tag) {
    $tag.hide().fadeIn();
  }
});
method description
add

Adds a tag

$('input').tagsinput('add', 'some tag');
$('input').tagsinput('add', { id: 1, text: 'some tag' });
Optionally, you can pass a 3rd parameter (object or value) to the add method to gain more control over the process. The parameter is exposed in the options attribute of the event.
$('input').tagsinput('add', 'some tag', {preventPost: true});
Usage:
                  
$('#tags-input').on('beforeItemAdd', function(event) {
   var tag = event.item;
   // Do some processing here

   if (!event.options || !event.options.preventPost) {
      $.ajax('/ajax-url', ajaxData, function(response) {
         if (response.failure) {
            // Remove the tag since there was a failure
            // "preventPost" here will stop this ajax call from running when the tag is removed
            $('#tags-input').tagsinput('remove', tag, {preventPost: true});
         }
      });
   }
});
                  
                
remove

Removes a tag

$('input').tagsinput('remove', 'some tag');
$('input').tagsinput('remove', { id: 1, text: 'some tag' });
Optionally, you can pass a 3rd parameter (object or value) to the remove method to gain more control over the process. The parameter is exposed in the options attribute of the event.
$('input').tagsinput('remove', 'some tag', {preventPost: true});
Usage:
                  
$('#tags-input').on('beforeItemRemove', function(event) {
   var tag = event.item;
   // Do some processing here

   if (!event.options || !event.options.preventPost) {
      $.ajax('/ajax-url', ajaxData, function(response) {
         if (response.failure) {
            // Re-add the tag since there was a failure
            // "preventPost" here will stop this ajax call from running when the tag is added
            $('#tags-input').tagsinput('add', tag, {preventPost: true});
         }
      });
   }
});
                  
                
removeAll

Removes all tags

$('input').tagsinput('removeAll');
focus

Sets focus in the tagsinput

$('input').tagsinput('focus');
input

Returns the tagsinput's internal <input />, which is used for adding tags. You could use this to add your own typeahead behaviour for example.

var $elt = $('input').tagsinput('input');
refresh

Refreshes the tags input UI. This might be usefull when you're adding objects as tags. When an object's text changes, you'll have to refresh to update the matching tag's text.

$('input').tagsinput('refresh');
destroy

Removes tagsinput behaviour

$('input').tagsinput('destroy');
event description
itemAddedOnInit During initialization, pre-defined tags being added will cause this event to be triggered. Example:
$('input').on('itemAddedOnInit', function(event) {
  // event.item: contains the item
});
beforeItemAdd Triggered just before an item gets added. Example:
$('input').on('beforeItemAdd', function(event) {
  // event.item: contains the item
  // event.cancel: set to true to prevent the item getting added
});
itemAdded Triggered just after an item got added. Example:
$('input').on('itemAdded', function(event) {
  // event.item: contains the item
});
beforeItemRemove Triggered just before an item gets removed. Example:
$('input').on('beforeItemRemove', function(event) {
  // event.item: contains the item
  // event.cancel: set to true to prevent the item getting removed
});
itemRemoved Triggered just after an item got removed. Example:
$('input').on('itemRemoved', function(event) {
  // event.item: contains the item
});