Android allows programmers to place images at all four corners of a TextView. For example, if you are creating a field with a TextView and at same time you want to show that the field is editable, then developers will usually place an edit icon near that field. Android provides us an interesting option called compound drawable for a TextView:

<TextView
        android:id="@+id/title"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:drawablePadding="4dp"
        android:drawableRight="@drawable/edit"
        android:text="Hello world"
        android:textSize="18dp" />

You can set the drawable to any side of your TextView as follows:

android:drawableLeft="@drawable/edit"
android:drawableRight="@drawable/edit"
android:drawableTop="@drawable/edit"
android:drawableBottom="@drawable/edit"

Setting the drawable can also be achieved programmatically in the following way:

yourTextView.setCompoundDrawables(leftDrawable, rightDrawable, topDrawable, bottomDrawable);

Setting any of the parameters handed over to setCompoundDrawables() to null will remove the icon from the corresponding side of the TextView.