What's the difference between gravity and layout_gravity on Android?

The difference is what refers to gravity .

• android:gravity - Position the contents of view in relation to it.
• android:layout_gravity - Position view in relation to the layout that contains it.

This effect can be easily checked with a TextView :

• android:gravity="center_horizontal" - Center the text horizontally, inside the text box
• android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal" - Centers the text box horizontally, within layout .

Imagetakenfromthis response in SOen.

The same answer mentions some aspects that must be taken into account:

• layout_gravity has no effect on RelativeLayout , use only LinearLayout and FrameLayout .
• gravity and layout_gravity has no effect if you use wrap_content for the TextView or layout dimensions.

The difference is that:

• android: gravity configures the view's gravity you're using - how to align elements within that view;
• android: layout-gravity sets the view's gravity relative to its parent- specifies how this view should be aligned against View parent.