Text Family

The text family covers everything that takes a string. Format-specific variants (email, url) add HTML5 validation; password masks input; hidden round-trips a value without rendering anything.

Types

Type	Description	Stored as
text	Single-line text input	string
email	Email with format validation	string
url	URL with format validation	string
password	Masked input	string
textarea	Multi-line text	string
hidden	Not rendered, just round-trips a saved value	string

Common args

Arg	Applies to	Default	Notes
placeholder	text, textarea	''	Greyed-out hint text shown when empty.
rows	textarea	3	Number of visible rows.
readonly	text family	false	Render the input disabled. Same effect as RBAC view-only mode.
copyable	text family	false	Show a copy-to-clipboard button at the right of the input.

Example — text + placeholder + copyable

[
    'id'          => 'api_key',
    'type'        => 'text',
    'label'       => __('API key', 'my-plugin'),
    'description' => __('Paste into your client app. Treat as a secret.', 'my-plugin'),
    'columns'     => 12,
    'args'        => [
        'readonly' => true,
        'copyable' => true,
    ],
],

Example — textarea with rows

[
    'id'      => 'tagline',
    'type'    => 'textarea',
    'label'   => __('Tagline', 'my-plugin'),
    'default' => 'The friendliest newsletter tool on the internet.',
    'args'    => [
        'rows'        => 2,
        'placeholder' => __('One sentence about your product.', 'my-plugin'),
    ],
],

Tip

For longer rich content, use the editor or code_editor field instead of textarea.