Use multiple font colors in a single label

Question

Is there a way to use two, or even three font colors in a single label in iOS?

If the text "hello, how are you" were used as an example, the "hello," would be blue, and the "how are you" would be green?

Is this possible, it seems easier than creating multiple labels?

Try using attributed text property of the UILabel. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3586871/bold-non-bold-text-in-a-single-uilabel — rakeshbs, Jan 01 '15 at 05:24

score 174 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 26 '21 at 18:32

Reference from here.

First of all initialize of you NSString and NSMutableAttributedString as below.

var myString:NSString = "I AM KIRIT MODI"
var myMutableString = NSMutableAttributedString()

In ViewDidLoad

override func viewDidLoad() {

    myMutableString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: myString, attributes: [NSFontAttributeName:UIFont(name: "Georgia", size: 18.0)!])
    myMutableString.addAttribute(NSForegroundColorAttributeName, value: UIColor.redColor(), range: NSRange(location:2,length:4))
    // set label Attribute
    labName.attributedText = myMutableString
    super.viewDidLoad()
}

OUTPUT

enter image description here

MULTIPLE COLOR

Add the line code below in your ViewDidLoad to get multiple colors in a string.

 myMutableString.addAttribute(NSForegroundColorAttributeName, value: UIColor.greenColor(), range: NSRange(location:10,length:5))

Multiple color OUTPUT

enter image description here

Swift 4

var myMutableString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: str, attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.font :UIFont(name: "Georgia", size: 18.0)!])
myMutableString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor, value: UIColor.red, range: NSRange(location:2,length:4))

Swift 5.0

 var myMutableString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: str, attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.font :UIFont(name: "Georgia", size: 18.0)!])
 myMutableString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor, value: UIColor.red, range: NSRange(location:2,length:4))

can you add two range properties, if not, how do I get around that? — Justin Rose, Jan 01 '15 at 05:49
Thanks for your answer. In my case, I'm getting a two users' names consecutively from API. I want to color the second name, so I don't know the length of the sentence. Is there any solution for this case? Thank you so much. — Tala Emami, Apr 17 '21 at 01:47

score 84 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 24 '20 at 11:50

For @Hems Moradiya

let attrs1 = [NSFontAttributeName : UIFont.boldSystemFontOfSize(18), NSForegroundColorAttributeName : UIColor.greenColor()]

let attrs2 = [NSFontAttributeName : UIFont.boldSystemFontOfSize(18), NSForegroundColorAttributeName : UIColor.whiteColor()]

let attributedString1 = NSMutableAttributedString(string:"Drive", attributes:attrs1)

let attributedString2 = NSMutableAttributedString(string:"safe", attributes:attrs2)

attributedString1.appendAttributedString(attributedString2)
self.lblText.attributedText = attributedString1

Swift 4

    let attrs1 = [NSAttributedStringKey.font : UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 18), NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor : UIColor.green]

    let attrs2 = [NSAttributedStringKey.font : UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 18), NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor : UIColor.white]

    let attributedString1 = NSMutableAttributedString(string:"Drive", attributes:attrs1)

    let attributedString2 = NSMutableAttributedString(string:"safe", attributes:attrs2)

    attributedString1.append(attributedString2)
    self.lblText.attributedText = attributedString1

Swift 5

    let attrs1 = [NSAttributedString.Key.font : UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 18), NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.green]

    let attrs2 = [NSAttributedString.Key.font : UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 18), NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.white]

    let attributedString1 = NSMutableAttributedString(string:"Drive", attributes:attrs1)

    let attributedString2 = NSMutableAttributedString(string:"safe", attributes:attrs2)

    attributedString1.append(attributedString2)
    self.lblText.attributedText = attributedString1

Krunal · Answer 3 · 2018-07-05T09:29:23.550

Swift 4

By using following extension function, you can directly set a color attribute to an attributed string and apply the same on your label.

extension NSMutableAttributedString {

    func setColorForText(textForAttribute: String, withColor color: UIColor) {
        let range: NSRange = self.mutableString.range(of: textForAttribute, options: .caseInsensitive)

        // Swift 4.2 and above
        self.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor, value: color, range: range)

        // Swift 4.1 and below
        self.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor, value: color, range: range)
    }

}

Try above extension, using a label:

let label = UILabel()
label.frame = CGRect(x: 60, y: 100, width: 260, height: 50)
let stringValue = "stackoverflow"

let attributedString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: stringValue)
attributedString.setColorForText(textForAttribute: "stack", withColor: UIColor.black)
attributedString.setColorForText(textForAttribute: "over", withColor: UIColor.orange)
attributedString.setColorForText(textForAttribute: "flow", withColor: UIColor.red)
label.font = UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 40)

label.attributedText = attributedString
self.view.addSubview(label)

Result:

enter image description here

@Krunal How can this be modified to support multiple strings to change colors...? I have a long string with underneath headers having ------------, but the code above works fine but it colors only the first found one. Can this be modified to do all --------- strings to a certain color....? Thanks. — Omid CompSCI, Dec 15 '18 at 22:27
this will no gonna work for text like this: "flowstackoverflow" it will change the first flow only,but we need the last one, how to achive that? — swift2geek, Jan 17 '20 at 17:29

Paul Wasilewski · Answer 4 · 2019-10-08T08:26:19.870

22

Here a solution for Swift 5

let label = UILabel()
let text = NSMutableAttributedString()
text.append(NSAttributedString(string: "stack", attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.white]));
text.append(NSAttributedString(string: "overflow", attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.gray]))
label.attributedText = text

edited Oct 08 '19 at 08:26

answered Oct 05 '19 at 20:17

Paul Wasilewski

9,762
5
45
49

score 19 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 08 '17 at 08:31

Updated Answer for Swift 4

You can easily use html inside attributedText property of the UILabel to easily do various text formatting.

 let htmlString = "<font color=\"red\">This is  </font> <font color=\"blue\"> some text!</font>"

    let encodedData = htmlString.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!
    let attributedOptions = [NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType]
    do {
        let attributedString = try NSAttributedString(data: encodedData, options: attributedOptions, documentAttributes: nil)
        label.attributedText = attributedString

    } catch _ {
        print("Cannot create attributed String")
    }

enter image description here

Updated Answer for Swift 2

let htmlString = "<font color=\"red\">This is  </font> <font color=\"blue\"> some text!</font>"

let encodedData = htmlString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!
let attributedOptions = [NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType]
do {
    let attributedString = try NSAttributedString(data: encodedData, options: attributedOptions, documentAttributes: nil)
    label.attributedText = attributedString

} catch _ {
    print("Cannot create attributed String")
}

I got this error message: Cannot invoke initializer for type 'NSAttributedString' with an argument list of type '(data: NSData, options: [String : String], documentAttributes: _, error: _)' — , Dec 07 '15 at 10:26
there are changes in Swift 2. Please check my updated answer. — rakeshbs, Dec 08 '15 at 13:22

score 9 · Answer 6 · edited Dec 20 '20 at 10:19

I liked it this way

let yourAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.black, NSAttributedString.Key.font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 15)]
    let yourOtherAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.red, NSAttributedString.Key.font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 25)]

    let partOne = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "This is an example ", attributes: yourAttributes)
    let partTwo = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "for the combination of Attributed String!", attributes: yourOtherAttributes)

    let combination = NSMutableAttributedString()

    combination.append(partOne)
    combination.append(partTwo)

Thanks for this simple one. – Nikhil Manapure Nov 17 '17 at 06:27 — Nikhil Manapure, Nov 17 '17 at 06:27

score 7 · Answer 7 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

Used rakeshbs's answer to create an extension in Swift 2:

// StringExtension.swift
import UIKit
import Foundation

extension String {

    var attributedStringFromHtml: NSAttributedString? {
        do {
            return try NSAttributedString(data: self.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!, options: [NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType], documentAttributes: nil)
        } catch _ {
            print("Cannot create attributed String")
        }
        return nil
    }
}

Usage:

let htmlString = "<font color=\"red\">This is  </font> <font color=\"blue\"> some text!</font>"
label.attributedText = htmlString.attributedStringFromHtml

Or even for one-liners

label.attributedText = "<font color=\"red\">This is  </font> <font color=\"blue\"> some text!</font>".attributedStringFromHtml

The good thing about the extension is that you'll have .attributedStringFromHtml attribute for all Strings throughout your whole application.

Ridho Octanio · Answer 8 · 2020-01-28T02:04:15.397

UPDATE for SWIFT 5

func setDiffColor(color: UIColor, range: NSRange) {
     let attText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: self.text!)
     attText.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor, value: color, range: range)
     attributedText = attText
}

SWIFT 3

In my code , i create an extension

import UIKit
import Foundation

extension UILabel {
    func setDifferentColor(string: String, location: Int, length: Int){

        let attText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: string)
        attText.addAttribute(NSForegroundColorAttributeName, value: UIColor.blueApp, range: NSRange(location:location,length:length))
        attributedText = attText

    }
}

and this for use

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        titleLabel.setDifferentColor(string: titleLabel.text!, location: 5, length: 4)

    }

score 5 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 01 '15 at 05:28

5

Make use of NSMutableAttributedString

myMutableString.addAttribute(NSForegroundColorAttributeName, value: UIColor.redColor(), range: NSRange(location:2,length:4))

enter image description here

See more details here swift-using-attributed-strings

answered Jan 01 '15 at 05:28

Shamsudheen TK

30,739
9
69
102

score 5 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 21 '17 at 10:35

Swift 3.0

let myMutableString = NSMutableAttributedString(
                            string: "your desired text",
                            attributes: [:])

myMutableString.addAttribute(
                            NSForegroundColorAttributeName,
                            value: UIColor.blue,
                            range: NSRange(
                                location:6,
                                length:7))

For more colors you can just keep adding attributes to the mutable string. More examples here.

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Dec 04 '18 at 09:03

Swift 4 UILabel Extension

In my case, I needed to be able to set different colors/fonts within labels frequently so I made a UILabel extension using Krunal's NSMutableAttributedString extension.

func highlightWords(phrases: [String], withColor: UIColor?, withFont: UIFont?) {

    let attributedString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: self.text!)

    for phrase in phrases {

        if withColor != nil {
            attributedString.setColorForText(textForAttribute: phrase, withColor: withColor!)
        }
        if withFont != nil {
            attributedString.setFontForText(textForAttribute: phrase, withFont: withFont!)
        }

    }

    self.attributedText = attributedString

}

It can be used like this:

yourLabel.highlightWords(phrases: ["hello"], withColor: UIColor.blue, withFont: nil)
yourLabel.highlightWords(phrases: ["how are you"], withColor: UIColor.green, withFont: nil)

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Mar 04 '19 at 18:56

1

Use cocoapod Prestyler:

Prestyle.defineRule("*", Color.blue)
Prestyle.defineRule("_", Color.red)
label.attributedText = "*This text is blue*, _but this one is red_".prestyled()

answered Mar 04 '19 at 18:56

Kruiller

59
1
3

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Jan 03 '17 at 17:54

Swift 3 example using the HTML version.

let encodedData = htmlString.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!
            let attributedOptions = [NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType]
            do {
                let attributedString = try NSAttributedString(data: encodedData, options: attributedOptions, documentAttributes: nil)
                label.attributedText = attributedString
            } catch _ {
                print("Cannot create attributed String")
            }

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Mar 20 '17 at 17:15

Here is the code which supports Latest version of Swift as on Mar 2017.

Swift 3.0

Here I have created a Helper class and method for the

public class Helper {

static func GetAttributedText(inputText:String, location:Int,length:Int) -> NSMutableAttributedString {
        let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: inputText, attributes: [NSFontAttributeName:UIFont(name: "Merriweather", size: 15.0)!])
        attributedText.addAttribute(NSForegroundColorAttributeName, value: UIColor(red: 0.401107, green: 0.352791, blue: 0.503067, alpha: 1.0) , range: NSRange(location:location,length:length))
       return attributedText
    }
}

In the Method Parameters, inputText:String - your Text to be displayed in label location:Int - where the style should be application, "0" as start of the string or some valid value as character position of the string length:Int - From the location until how many characters this style is applicable.

Consuming in other method:

self.dateLabel?.attributedText = Helper.GetAttributedText(inputText: "Date : " + (self.myModel?.eventDate)!, location:0, length: 6)

Output:

Note: The UI Color can be defined color as UIColor.red or user defined colors as UIColor(red: 0.401107, green: 0.352791, blue: 0.503067, alpha: 1.0)

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Sep 12 '17 at 10:57

func MultiStringColor(first:String,second:String) -> NSAttributedString
    {
        let MyString1 = [NSFontAttributeName : FontSet.MonsRegular(size: 14), NSForegroundColorAttributeName : FoodConstant.PUREBLACK]

        let MyString2 = [NSFontAttributeName : FontSet.MonsRegular(size: 14), NSForegroundColorAttributeName : FoodConstant.GREENCOLOR]

        let attributedString1 = NSMutableAttributedString(string:first, attributes:MyString1)

        let attributedString2 = NSMutableAttributedString(string:second, attributes:MyString2)

        MyString1.append(MyString2)

        return MyString1
    }

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Aug 25 '18 at 10:25

for using this NSForegroundColorAttributeName in swift lower version you can get unresolved identifier issues change the above to NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor.

             swift lower version                swift latest version

i.e., NSForegroundColorAttributeName == NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Mar 19 '19 at 15:57

Swift 4.2

    let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
    paragraphStyle.alignment = NSTextAlignment.center

    var stringAlert = self.phoneNumber + "로\r로전송인증번호를입력해주세요"
    let attributedString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: stringAlert, attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.paragraphStyle:paragraphStyle,  .font: UIFont(name: "NotoSansCJKkr-Regular", size: 14.0)])
    attributedString.setColorForText(textForAttribute: self.phoneNumber, withColor: UIColor.init(red: 1.0/255.0, green: 205/255.0, blue: 166/255.0, alpha: 1) )
    attributedString.setColorForText(textForAttribute: "로\r로전송인증번호를입력해주세요", withColor: UIColor.black)

    self.txtLabelText.attributedText = attributedString

Result

Use multiple font colors in a single label

17 Answers17

Swift 3.0

Linked