Set UILabel line spacing

Question

How can I modify the gap between lines (line spacing) in a multiline UILabel?

Answer 1

Edit: Evidently NSAttributedString will do it, on iOS 6 and later. Instead of using an NSString to set the label's text, create an NSAttributedString, set attributes on it, then set it as the .attributedText on the label. The code you want will be something like this:

NSMutableAttributedString* attrString = [[NSMutableAttributedString  alloc] initWithString:@"Sample text"];
NSMutableParagraphStyle *style = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
[style setLineSpacing:24];
[attrString addAttribute:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName
    value:style
    range:NSMakeRange(0, strLength)];
uiLabel.attributedText = attrString;

NSAttributedString's old attributedStringWithString did the same thing, but now that is being deprecated.

For historical reasons, here's my original answer:

Short answer: you can't. To change the spacing between lines of text, you will have to subclass UILabel and roll your own drawTextInRect, create multiple labels, or use a different font (perhaps one edited for a specific line height, see Phillipe's answer).

Long answer: In the print and online world, the space between lines of text is known as "leading" (rhymes with 'heading', and comes from the lead metal used decades ago). Leading is a read-only property of UIFont, which was deprecated in 4.0 and replaced by lineHeight. As far as I know, there's no way to create a font with a specific set of parameters such as lineHeight; you get the system fonts and any custom font you add, but can't tweak them once installed.

There is no spacing parameter in UILabel, either.

I'm not particularly happy with UILabel's behavior as is, so I suggest writing your own subclass or using a 3rd-party library. That will make the behavior independent of your font choice and be the most reusable solution.

I wish there was more flexibility in UILabel, and I'd be happy to be proven wrong!

Answer 2

Starting in ios 6 you can set an attributed string in the UILabel:

NSString *labelText = @"some text"; 
NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:labelText];
NSMutableParagraphStyle *paragraphStyle = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
[paragraphStyle setLineSpacing:40];
[attributedString addAttribute:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName value:paragraphStyle range:NSMakeRange(0, [labelText length])];
cell.label.attributedText = attributedString ;

Answer 3

You can control line spacing in the storyboard:

duplicate question

Answer 4

From Interface Builder:

Programmatically:

SWift 4

Using label extension

extension UILabel {

    func setLineSpacing(lineSpacing: CGFloat = 0.0, lineHeightMultiple: CGFloat = 0.0) {

        guard let labelText = self.text else { return }

        let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
        paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = lineSpacing
        paragraphStyle.lineHeightMultiple = lineHeightMultiple

        let attributedString:NSMutableAttributedString
        if let labelattributedText = self.attributedText {
            attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: labelattributedText)
        } else {
            attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: labelText)
        }

        // Line spacing attribute
        attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.paragraphStyle, value:paragraphStyle, range:NSMakeRange(0, attributedString.length))

        self.attributedText = attributedString
    }
}

Now call extension function

let label = UILabel()
let stringValue = "How to\ncontrol\nthe\nline spacing\nin UILabel"

// Pass value for any one argument - lineSpacing or lineHeightMultiple
label.setLineSpacing(lineSpacing: 2.0) .  // try values 1.0 to 5.0

// or try lineHeightMultiple
//label.setLineSpacing(lineHeightMultiple = 2.0) // try values 0.5 to 2.0

Or using label instance (Just copy & execute this code to see result)

let label = UILabel()
let stringValue = "Set\nUILabel\nline\nspacing"
let attrString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: stringValue)
var style = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
style.lineSpacing = 24 // change line spacing between paragraph like 36 or 48
style.minimumLineHeight = 20 // change line spacing between each line like 30 or 40

// Line spacing attribute
attrString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.paragraphStyle, value: style, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: stringValue.characters.count))

// Character spacing attribute
attrString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.kern, value: 2, range: NSMakeRange(0, attrString.length))

label.attributedText = attrString

Swift 3

let label = UILabel()
let stringValue = "Set\nUILabel\nline\nspacing"
let attrString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: stringValue)
var style = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
style.lineSpacing = 24 // change line spacing between paragraph like 36 or 48
style.minimumLineHeight = 20 // change line spacing between each line like 30 or 40
attrString.addAttribute(NSParagraphStyleAttributeName, value: style, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: stringValue.characters.count))
label.attributedText = attrString

Answer 5

My solution was to patch the font file itself and fix its line height definitely. http://mbauman.net/geek/2009/03/15/minor-truetype-font-editing-on-a-mac/

I had to modify 'lineGap', 'ascender', 'descender' in the 'hhea' block (as in the blog example).

Answer 6

This guy created a class to get line-height (without using CoreText, as MTLabel library) : https://github.com/LemonCake/MSLabel

Answer 7

Best thing I found is: https://github.com/mattt/TTTAttributedLabel

It's a UILabel subclass so you can just drop it in, and then to change the line height:

myLabel.lineHeightMultiple = 0.85;
myLabel.leading = 2;

Answer 8

I've found 3rd Party Libraries Like this one:

https://github.com/Tuszy/MTLabel

To be the easiest solution.

Answer 9

Here's some swift-code for you to set the line spacing programmatically

let label = UILabel()

let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "Your string")
let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()

//SET THIS:
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = 4
//OR SET THIS:
paragraphStyle.lineHeightMultiple = 4

//Or set both :)

let range = NSMakeRange(0, attributedText.length)
attributedText.addAttributes([NSParagraphStyleAttributeName : paragraphStyle], range: range)
label.attributedText = attributedText

Answer 10

Of course, Mike's answer doesn't work if you pass the string programmatically. In this case you need to pass a attributed string and change it's style.

NSMutableAttributedString * attrString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@"Your \nregular \nstring"];
NSMutableParagraphStyle *style = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
[style setLineSpacing:4];
[attrString addAttribute:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName
                   value:style
                   range:NSMakeRange(0, attrString.length)];
_label.attributedText = attrString;