How to underline a UILabel in swift?

Question

How to underline a UILabel in Swift? I searched the Objective-C ones but couldn't quite get them to work in Swift.

whats with the dislikes? there is an obvious confusion here with the attibutes looking like method calls in objc — Esqarrouth, Jan 26 '15 at 15:18
here You Can get the easy way https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28268060/adding-underline-attribute-to-partial-text-uilabel-in-storyboard/30750184#30750184 — Kapil B, Jul 04 '17 at 07:48
here are the easy way [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28268060/adding-underline-attribute-to-partial-text-uilabel-in-storyboard/30750184#30750184][1] — Kapil B, Jul 04 '17 at 07:49
Better solution algorithm with better solution you can look my answer https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28053334/how-to-underline-a-uilabel-in-swift/65122584#65122584 — Ucdemir, Dec 03 '20 at 08:53

score 310 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 16 '21 at 11:36

You can do this using NSAttributedString

Example:

let underlineAttribute = [NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle: NSUnderlineStyle.thick.rawValue]
let underlineAttributedString = NSAttributedString(string: "StringWithUnderLine", attributes: underlineAttribute)
myLabel.attributedText = underlineAttributedString

EDIT

To have the same attributes for all texts of one UILabel, I suggest you to subclass UILabel and overriding text, like that:

Swift 5

Same as Swift 4.2 but: You should prefer the Swift initializer NSRange over the old NSMakeRange, you can shorten to .underlineStyle and linebreaks improve readibility for long method calls.

class UnderlinedLabel: UILabel {

override var text: String? {
    didSet {
        guard let text = text else { return }
        let textRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: text.count)
        let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text)
        attributedText.addAttribute(.underlineStyle,
                                    value: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue,
                                    range: textRange)
        // Add other attributes if needed
        self.attributedText = attributedText
        }
    }
}

Swift 4.2

class UnderlinedLabel: UILabel {

override var text: String? {
    didSet {
        guard let text = text else { return }
        let textRange = NSMakeRange(0, text.count)
        let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text)
        attributedText.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle , value: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue, range: textRange)
        // Add other attributes if needed
        self.attributedText = attributedText
        }
    }
}

Swift 3.0

class UnderlinedLabel: UILabel {
    
    override var text: String? {
        didSet {
            guard let text = text else { return }
            let textRange = NSMakeRange(0, text.characters.count)
            let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text)
            attributedText.addAttribute(NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName , value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue, range: textRange)
            // Add other attributes if needed
            self.attributedText = attributedText
        }
    }
}

And you put your text like this :

@IBOutlet weak var label: UnderlinedLabel!
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        
        label.text = "StringWithUnderLine"
    }

OLD:

Swift (2.0 to 2.3):

class UnderlinedLabel: UILabel {
    
    override var text: String? {
        didSet {
            guard let text = text else { return }
            let textRange = NSMakeRange(0, text.characters.count)
            let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text)
            attributedText.addAttribute(NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName, value:NSUnderlineStyle.StyleSingle.rawValue, range: textRange)
            // Add other attributes if needed
            
            self.attributedText = attributedText
        }
    }
}

Swift 1.2:

class UnderlinedLabel: UILabel {
    
    override var text: String! {
        didSet {
            let textRange = NSMakeRange(0, count(text))
            let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text)
            attributedText.addAttribute(NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName, value:NSUnderlineStyle.StyleSingle.rawValue, range: textRange)
            // Add other attributes if needed
            
            self.attributedText = attributedText
        }
    }
}

I've been wondering for a long time: why do we have to use rawValue otherwise it crashes? — Bruno Muniz, Nov 04 '19 at 01:58
You should pass `UTF16` count instead of the character count when creating your textRange `NSRange` — Leo Dabus, Mar 16 '20 at 04:22
I've changed this solution to add a underlline on initialize, this way we can use it easily with storyboards `required init?(coder: NSCoder) { super.init(coder: coder) self.addUnderline() // your code }` — João Serra, Nov 11 '20 at 18:47
Better solution algorithm with better solution you can look my answer https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28053334/how-to-underline-a-uilabel-in-swift/65122584#65122584 — Ucdemir, Dec 03 '20 at 08:53

hasan · Answer 2 · 2019-05-22T15:58:15.423

128

Swift 5 & 4.2 one liner:

label.attributedText = NSAttributedString(string: "Text", attributes:
    [.underlineStyle: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue])

Swift 4 one liner:

label.attributedText = NSAttributedString(string: "Text", attributes:
    [.underlineStyle: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue])

Swift 3 one liner:

label.attributedText = NSAttributedString(string: "Text", attributes:
      [NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue])

edited May 22 '19 at 15:58

answered Mar 25 '17 at 11:38

hasan

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NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue has been renamed to NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue in swift 4.2 – Skaal Jan 11 '19 at 11:23
How do I de-underline? – N. Der Apr 29 '19 at 03:07
@N.Der Set again a normal text to label – byJeevan Sep 12 '19 at 13:53

alegelos · Answer 3 · 2022-04-28T14:03:31.177

27

Swift 5:

1- Create a String extension to get attributedText

extension String {

    var underLined: NSAttributedString {
        NSMutableAttributedString(string: self, attributes: [.underlineStyle: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue])
    }

}

2- Use it

On buttons:

<#YourButton#>.setAttributedTitle(<#YourButtonTitle#>.underLined, for: .normal)

On Labels:

<#YourLabel#>.attributedText = <#YourLabelTitle#>.underLined

Or Stoyboard version

edited Apr 28 '22 at 14:03

answered Jun 06 '18 at 09:08

alegelos

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17
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The above extension worked out for me, thanks. – Syed Faizan Ahmed Mar 21 '23 at 15:56

score 23 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 12 '20 at 00:47

If you are looking for a way to do this without inheritance:

Swift 5

extension UILabel {
    func underline() {
        if let textString = self.text {
          let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: textString)
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle,
                                          value: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue,
                                          range: NSRange(location: 0, length: attributedString.length))
          attributedText = attributedString
        }
    }
}

Swift 3/4

// in swift 4 - switch NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName with NSAttributedStringKey.underlineStyle
extension UILabel {
    func underline() {
        if let textString = self.text {
          let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: textString)
          attributedString.addAttribute(NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName, value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: attributedString.length))
          attributedText = attributedString
        }
    }
}


extension UIButton {
  func underline() {
    let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: (self.titleLabel?.text!)!)
    attributedString.addAttribute(NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName, value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: (self.titleLabel?.text!.characters.count)!))
    self.setAttributedTitle(attributedString, for: .normal)
  }
}

You should pass `UTF16` count instead of the character count when creating your `NSRange` — Leo Dabus, Mar 16 '20 at 04:27

score 9 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 02 '17 at 16:38

Just a little fix for the Shlome answer in Swift 4 and Xcode 9.

extension UILabel {
    func underline() {
        if let textString = self.text {
            let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: textString)
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.underlineStyle,
                                          value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue,
                                          range: NSRange(location: 0, length: attributedString.length - 1))
            attributedText = attributedString
        }
    }
}

    extension UIButton {
        func underline() {
            let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: (self.titleLabel?.text!)!)
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.underlineStyle,
                                          value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue,
                                          range: NSRange(location: 0, length: (self.titleLabel?.text!.count)!))
            self.setAttributedTitle(attributedString, for: .normal)
        }
    }

You should pass `UTF16` count instead of the character count when creating your `NSRange` — Leo Dabus, Mar 16 '20 at 04:28

score 7 · Answer 6 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

7

You can underline the UILabel text using Interface Builder.

Here is the link of my answer : Adding underline attribute to partial text UILabel in storyboard

edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

Community

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answered Jun 10 '15 at 07:51

Rizwan Shaikh

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This method fails if you rebind the text to the label. – Eric H May 04 '16 at 22:11
@EricH What do you mean? – meaning-matters Dec 15 '16 at 09:39

score 7 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 22 '18 at 13:27

Same Answer in Swift 4.2

For UILable

extension UILabel {
    func underline() {
        if let textString = self.text {
            let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: textString)
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle,
                                          value: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue,
                                          range: NSRange(location: 0, length: textString.count))
            self.attributedText = attributedString
        }
    }
}

Call for UILabel like below

myLable.underline()

For UIButton

extension UIButton {
    func underline() {
        if let textString = self.titleLabel?.text {

            let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: textString)
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle,
                                          value: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue,
                                          range: NSRange(location: 0, length: textString.count))
            self.setAttributedTitle(attributedString, for: .normal)
        }

    }
}

Call for UIButton like below

myButton.underline()

I looked into above answers and some of them are force unwrapping text value. I will suggest to get value by safely unwrapping. This will avoid crash in case of nil value. Hope This helps :)

You should pass `UTF16` count instead of the character count when creating your `NSRange` — Leo Dabus, Mar 16 '20 at 04:28
If you already have the extension for the UILabel, IMO it is simpler to call myButton.titleLabel?.underline(), or at least use it inside the underline() function in the extension for UIButton. — boherna, Jun 09 '20 at 18:47

Gurjinder Singh · Answer 8 · 2019-07-15T13:00:30.927

Swift 4, 4.2 and 5.

  @IBOutlet weak var lblUnderLine: UILabel!

I need to underline particular text in UILabel. So, find range and set attributes.

    let strSignup = "Don't have account? SIGNUP NOW."
    let rangeSignUp = NSString(string: strSignup).range(of: "SIGNUP NOW.", options: String.CompareOptions.caseInsensitive)
    let rangeFull = NSString(string: strSignup).range(of: strSignup, options: String.CompareOptions.caseInsensitive)
    let attrStr = NSMutableAttributedString.init(string:strSignup)
    attrStr.addAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.white,
                           NSAttributedString.Key.font : UIFont.init(name: "Helvetica", size: 17)! as Any],range: rangeFull)
    attrStr.addAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.white,
                           NSAttributedString.Key.font : UIFont.init(name: "Helvetica", size: 20)!,
                          NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle: NSUnderlineStyle.thick.rawValue as Any],range: rangeSignUp) // for swift 4 -> Change thick to styleThick
    lblUnderLine.attributedText = attrStr

Output

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Apr 17 '19 at 12:57

Underline to multiple strings in a sentence.

extension UILabel {
    func underlineMyText(range1:String, range2:String) {
        if let textString = self.text {

            let str = NSString(string: textString)
            let firstRange = str.range(of: range1)
            let secRange = str.range(of: range2)
            let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: textString)
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle, value: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue, range: firstRange)
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle, value: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue, range: secRange)
            attributedText = attributedString
        }
    }
}

Use by this way.

    lbl.text = "By continuing you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy."
    lbl.underlineMyText(range1: "Terms of Service", range2: "Privacy Policy.")

How you will track the touch? – karthikeyan Nov 12 '19 at 04:14 — karthikeyan, Nov 12 '19 at 04:14

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 26 '17 at 07:34

Swift 4 changes. Remeber to use NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue instead of NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.

   'let attributedString = NSAttributedString(string: "Testing")
    let textRange = NSMakeRange(0, attributedString.length)
    let underlinedMessage = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: attributedString)
    underlinedMessage.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.underlineStyle,
                                   value:NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue,
                                   range: textRange)
    label.attributedText = underlinedMessage

`

score 2 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 13 '19 at 07:06

You can use this also if you want to achieve only half part of label as underline:- //For Swift 4.0+

let attributesForUnderLine: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [
            .font: UIFont(name: AppFont.sourceSansPro_Regular, size: 12) ?? UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 11),
            .foregroundColor: UIColor.blue,
            .underlineStyle: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue]

        let attributesForNormalText: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [
            .font: UIFont(name: AppFont.sourceSansPro_Regular, size: 12) ?? UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 11),
            .foregroundColor: AppColors.ColorText_787878]

        let textToSet = "Want to change your preferences? Edit Now"
        let rangeOfUnderLine = (textToSet as NSString).range(of: "Edit Now")
        let rangeOfNormalText = (textToSet as NSString).range(of: "Want to change your preferences?")

        let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: textToSet)
        attributedText.addAttributes(attributesForUnderLine, range: rangeOfUnderLine)
        attributedText.addAttributes(attributesForNormalText, range: rangeOfNormalText)
        yourLabel.attributedText = attributedText

score 1 · Answer 12 · edited Oct 25 '17 at 15:55

The answer above is causing an error in my build environment.

This doesn't work in Swift 4.0:

attributedText.addAttribute(NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName, 
                            value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue, 
                            range: textRange)

Try this instead:

attributedText.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.underlineStyle,
                            value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleSingle.rawValue,
                            range: textRange)

hope this helps someone.

score 1 · Answer 13 · edited Sep 14 '18 at 12:15

1

// Swift 4 Version

 let attributedString  = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "Your Text Here", attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey.underlineStyle : true])

self.yourlabel.attributedText = attributedString

edited Sep 14 '18 at 12:15

MAhipal Singh

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answered Jun 01 '18 at 12:32

Yogesh Solanki

487
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score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Jun 26 '20 at 07:09

A class to set and remove underline for UIbuttons for Swift 5. I hope this helps

import Foundation
   import UIKit

   class UiUtil {

       static let underlineThickness = 2
    
       class func removeUnderlineFromButton( _ button:UIButton ) {
          if let str = button.titleLabel?.attributedText {
            let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString( attributedString: str )
            attributedString.removeAttribute(.underlineStyle, range: 
   NSRange.init(location: 0, length: attributedString.length))
            button.setAttributedTitle(attributedString, for: .normal)
         }
      }

    class func setUnderlineFromButton( _ button:UIButton ) {
        if let str = button.titleLabel?.attributedText {
            let attributedStringUnderline = NSMutableAttributedString( attributedString: 
    str  )
              attributedStringUnderline.addAttribute(
                NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle,
                value: underlineThickness,
                range: NSRange.init(location: 0, length: attributedStringUnderline.length)
              )
              button.setAttributedTitle(attributedStringUnderline, for: .normal)
           }
      }

   }

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Dec 03 '20 at 08:51

I have algorithm that used in my app. In this algorithm you can underline substring even that have space between words

extension NSMutableAttributedString{

    static func  findSubStringAndUnderlineIt(subStringToBeFound : String,totalString : String)->  NSMutableAttributedString?{
        
        let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: totalString)

        var spaceCount = 0
        
        if subStringToBeFound.contains(" "){
            spaceCount = subStringToBeFound.components(separatedBy:" ").count-1
        }

        
        if  let range = attributedString.string.range(of: subStringToBeFound, options: .caseInsensitive){
        
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle, value: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue, range: NSMakeRange((range.lowerBound.utf16Offset(in: subStringToBeFound)) ,(range.upperBound.utf16Offset(in: subStringToBeFound)) +
            spaceCount))
                return attributedString
        }
        return attributedString
        
    }
    
}

in used section

 lblWarning.attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString.findSubStringAndUnderlineIt(subStringToBeFound:"Not: Sadece uygulamanın reklamları kaldırılacaktır.", totalString: lblWarning.text!)

score 0 · Answer 16 · edited Sep 14 '18 at 12:15

For Swift 2.3

extension UIButton {
    func underline() {
        let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: (self.titleLabel?.text!)!)
        attributedString.addAttribute(NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName, value: NSUnderlineStyle.StyleSingle.rawValue, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: (self.titleLabel?.text!.characters.count)!))
        self.setAttributedTitle(attributedString, forState: .Normal)
    }
}

and in ViewController

@IBOutlet var yourButton: UIButton!

in ViewDidLoad Method or in your function just write

yourButton.underline()

it will underline the title of your button

How to underline a UILabel in swift?

16 Answers16

Swift 5:

1- Create a String extension to get attributedText

2- Use it

Swift 5

Swift 3/4

Linked

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