Can I set the `attributedText` property of `UILabel`

Question

Can I set the attributedText property of a UILabel object? I tried the below code:

UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] init];
label.attributedText = @"asdf";

But it gives this error:

Property "attributedText" not found on object of type 'UILabel *'

#import <CoreText/CoreText.h> not working

Use this link http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3786528/iphone-ipad-how-exactly-use-nsattributedstring — Rajneesh071, Jun 14 '12 at 11:05
i think this is useful for u http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3786528/iphone-ipad-how-exactly-use-nsattributedstring — Rajneesh071, Jun 14 '12 at 11:06

Michael Kessler · Answer 1 · 2013-07-30T06:10:59.370

Here is a complete example of how to use an attributed text on a label:

NSString *redText = @"red text";
NSString *greenText = @"green text";
NSString *purpleBoldText = @"purple bold text";

NSString *text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Here are %@, %@ and %@", 
                  redText,  
                  greenText,  
                  purpleBoldText];

// If attributed text is supported (iOS6+)
if ([self.label respondsToSelector:@selector(setAttributedText:)]) {

    // Define general attributes for the entire text
    NSDictionary *attribs = @{
                              NSForegroundColorAttributeName: self.label.textColor,
                              NSFontAttributeName: self.label.font
                              };
    NSMutableAttributedString *attributedText = 
        [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:text
                                               attributes:attribs];

    // Red text attributes
    UIColor *redColor = [UIColor redColor];
    NSRange redTextRange = [text rangeOfString:redText];// * Notice that usage of rangeOfString in this case may cause some bugs - I use it here only for demonstration
    [attributedText setAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName:redColor}
                            range:redTextRange];

    // Green text attributes
    UIColor *greenColor = [UIColor greenColor];
    NSRange greenTextRange = [text rangeOfString:greenText];// * Notice that usage of rangeOfString in this case may cause some bugs - I use it here only for demonstration
    [attributedText setAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName:greenColor}
                            range:greenTextRange];

    // Purple and bold text attributes
    UIColor *purpleColor = [UIColor purpleColor];
    UIFont *boldFont = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:self.label.font.pointSize];
    NSRange purpleBoldTextRange = [text rangeOfString:purpleBoldText];// * Notice that usage of rangeOfString in this case may cause some bugs - I use it here only for demonstration
    [attributedText setAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName:purpleColor,
                                    NSFontAttributeName:boldFont}
                            range:purpleBoldTextRange];

    self.label.attributedText = attributedText;
}
// If attributed text is NOT supported (iOS5-)
else {
    self.label.text = text;
}

Bear in mind using rangeOfString like this will cause bugs if some parts of the text are a subset of others. You'd do better to work out ranges yourself using NSRange and working out length of strings manually. — owencm, Jul 28 '13 at 18:55
@owencm, you are absolutely right. This code can't be used in any situation - especially not when the texts come from the web. This code snippet just demonstrates how to use the attributedText together with backward compatibility... — Michael Kessler, Jul 30 '13 at 06:06
@aroth , this is the way to do it in code and still support the older OS versions where this functionality is not available. If you support only iOS6+ (most of the apps today) then you may do it in the interface builder - much cleaner... — Michael Kessler, May 19 '14 at 08:52
this doesn't work when you have same text more than once and apply different attributes .. :( you need to have unique strings. — Ankur, Jan 29 '15 at 07:21
@Ankur , as I've mentioned in one of the comments above, "This code can't be used in any situation - especially not when the texts come from the web. This code snippet just demonstrates how to use the attributedText together with backward compatibility..." — Michael Kessler, Feb 08 '15 at 18:33

Chaitanya Gupta · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-11T04:02:12.193

33

~~Unfortunately, UILabel doesn't support attributed strings.~~ You can use OHAttributedLabel instead.

Update: Since iOS6, UILabel does support attributed strings. See UILabel reference or Michael Kessler's answer below for more details.

edited Aug 11 '13 at 04:02

answered Jun 14 '12 at 11:04

Chaitanya Gupta

4,043
2
31
41

39

As of iOS 6, UILabel supports attributed strings via the attributedText property. – Greg Nov 30 '12 at 17:17

score 12 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 23 '17 at 19:46

NSString *str1 = @"Hi Hello, this is plain text in red";

NSString *cardName = @"This is bold text in blue";

NSString *text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@\n%@",str1,cardName];


// Define general attributes for the entire text
NSDictionary *attribs = @{
                          NSForegroundColorAttributeName:[UIColor redColor],
                          NSFontAttributeName: [UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:12]
                          };
NSMutableAttributedString *attributedText = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:text attributes:attribs];


UIFont *boldFont = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica-Bold" size:14.0];
NSRange range = [text rangeOfString:cardName];
[attributedText setAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor blueColor],
                                NSFontAttributeName:boldFont} range:range];


myLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];

myLabel.attributedText = attributedText;

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 03 '18 at 06:26

for Swift 4:

iOS 11 and xcode 9.4

  let str = "This is a string which will shortly be modified into AtrributedString"

  var attStr = NSMutableAttributedString.init(string: str)

  attStr.addAttribute(.font,
                value: UIFont.init(name: "AppleSDGothicNeo-Bold", size: 15) ?? "font not found",
                range: NSRange.init(location: 0, length: str.count))

  self.textLabel.attributedText = attStr

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 15 '15 at 07:20

5

For people using swift, here's a one-liner:

myLabel.attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: myLabel.text!, attributes: [NSFontAttributeName:UIFont(name: "YourFont", size: 12), NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.whiteColor()])

answered Jan 15 '15 at 07:20

Rob

4,927
12
49
54

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 20 '15 at 11:41

so,here is the code to have different properties for sub strings ,of a string.

 NSString *str=@"10 people likes this";
    NSString *str2=@"likes this";
    if ([str hasSuffix:str2])
    {
        NSMutableAttributedString * string = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:str];

    // for string 1 //

        [string addAttribute:NSForegroundColorAttributeName value:[UIColor blueColor] range:NSMakeRange(0,str.length-str2.length)];
         [string addAttribute:NSFontAttributeName value:[UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:14] range:NSMakeRange(0,str.length-str2.length)];
  // for string 2 //

        [string addAttribute:NSForegroundColorAttributeName value:[UIColor greenColor] range:NSMakeRange((str.length-str2.length),str2.length)];
        [string addAttribute:NSFontAttributeName value:[UIFont italicSystemFontOfSize:12] range:NSMakeRange((str.length-str2.length),str2.length)];
        label.attributedText=string;
    }
    else
    {
        label.text =str;

    }

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 14 '12 at 11:02

2

Hope this helps ;)

NSMutableAttributedString* attrStr = [NSMutableAttributedString attributedStringWithString:@"asdf"];
[attrStr setFont:[UIFont systemFontOfSize:12]];
[attrStr setTextColor:[UIColor grayColor]];
[attrStr setTextColor:[UIColor redColor] range:NSMakeRange(0,5)];
lbl.attributedText = attrStr;

answered Jun 14 '12 at 11:02

Blade

1,435
1
14
22

Just use the code above and it should work. Nothing else to do. – Blade Jun 14 '12 at 11:05
gives an error: Property "attributedText" not found on object of type 'UILabel *' – Shamsiddin Saidov Jun 14 '12 at 11:10
Try importing "CoreText.framework". And then put in your .h file #import – Blade Jun 14 '12 at 11:12
again the same error gives: Property "attributedText" not found on object of type 'UILabel *' – Shamsiddin Saidov Jun 14 '12 at 11:16
1

Then try using this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3786528/iphone-ipad-how-exactly-use-nsattributedstring – Blade Jun 14 '12 at 11:20
5

That's not how you use NSMutableAttributedString, so the code above will simply not work. A similar and simple example is on this answer: http://stackoverflow.com/a/11291275/67397 – leolobato Sep 04 '13 at 18:59

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 05 '17 at 06:38

UIFont *font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:12];
NSDictionary *fontDict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject: font forKey:NSFontAttributeName];
NSMutableAttributedString *attrString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@" v 1.2.55" attributes: fontDict];

UIFont *fontNew = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:17];
NSDictionary *fontDictNew = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject: fontNew forKey:NSFontAttributeName];
NSMutableAttributedString *attrStringNew = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@“Application” attributes: fontDictNew];
[attrStringNew appendAttributedString: attrString];
self.vsersionLabel.attributedText = attrStringNew;

Can I set the `attributedText` property of `UILabel`

8 Answers8

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