UILabel with two different color text

Question

How can i have a UILabel with two different colors for the font? I will have text in two different strings and i want to make text with first string as red and second as green. The length of both the string is variable.

Answer 1

You can't do this within a UILabels. But my suggestion is that instead of using multiple UILabel just concentrate on NSAttributedString. Find UIControllers that draw NSAttributedString because UILabel, UITextView do not support NSAttributedString.

PS: if you plan to distribute an iOS6 or later application, as UILabel now support NSAttributedString, you should use UILabel directly instead of OHAttributedLabel as it is now natively supported by the OS.

Answer 2

Try TTTAttributedLabel. It's a subclass of UILabel that supports NSAttributedStrings, which would make it easy to have multiple colors, fonts, and styles in the same string.

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Edit: Alternatively, if you don't want the 3rd party dependency and are targeting iOS 6, UILabel now has the attributedText property.

Answer 3

UILabel can only have one color. You either need a more sophisticated element, or - probably easier - just use two separate labels. Use [yourLabel sizeToFit]; and place them accordingly.

Answer 4

Swift 4
(Note: notation for attributed string key is changed in swift 4)

Here is an extension for NSMutableAttributedString, that add/set color on string/text.

extension NSMutableAttributedString {

    func setColor(color: UIColor, forText stringValue: String) {
        let range: NSRange = self.mutableString.range(of: stringValue, options: .caseInsensitive)
        self.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor, value: color, range: range)
    }

}

Now, try above extension with UILabel and see result

let label = UILabel()
label.frame = CGRect(x: 40, y: 100, width: 280, height: 200)
let red = "red"
let blue = "blue"
let green = "green"
let stringValue = "\(red)\n\(blue)\n&\n\(green)"
label.textColor = UIColor.lightGray
label.numberOfLines = 0
let attributedString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: stringValue)
attributedString.setColor(color: UIColor.red, forText: red)   // or use direct value for text "red"
attributedString.setColor(color: UIColor.blue, forText: blue)   // or use direct value for text "blue"
attributedString.setColor(color: UIColor.green, forText: green)   // or use direct value for text "green"
label.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 26)
label.attributedText = attributedString
self.view.addSubview(label)

Here is solution in Swift 3:

extension NSMutableAttributedString {
        func setColorForText(textToFind: String, withColor color: UIColor) {
         let range: NSRange = self.mutableString.range(of: textToFind, options: .caseInsensitive)
          if range != nil {
            self.addAttribute(NSForegroundColorAttributeName, value: color, range: range)
          }
        }

}


func multicolorTextLabel() {
        var string: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "red\nblue\n&\ngreen")
        string.setColorForText(textToFind: "red", withColor: UIColor.red)
        string.setColorForText(textToFind: "blue", withColor: UIColor.blue)
        string.setColorForText(textToFind: "green", withColor: UIColor.green)
        labelObject.attributedText = string
    }

Result:

Answer 5

In iOS 6 UILabel has NSAttributedString property. So use that.