How to control the line spacing in UILabel

Question

Is it possible to reduce the gap between text, when put in multiple lines in a UILabel? We can set the frame, font size and number of lines. I want to reduce the gap between the two lines in that label.

Solution 1

I thought about adding something new to this answer, so I don't feel as bad... Here is a Swift answer:

import Cocoa

let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = 40

let attrString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "Swift Answer")
attrString.addAttribute(.paragraphStyle, value:paragraphStyle, range:NSMakeRange(0, attrString.length))

var tableViewCell = NSTableCellView()
tableViewCell.textField.attributedStringValue = attrString

---

"Short answer: you can't. To change the spacing between lines of text, you will have to subclass UILabel and roll your own drawTextInRect, or create multiple labels."

See: Set UILabel line spacing

---

This is a really old answer, and other have already addded the new and better way to handle this.. Please see the up to date answers provided below.

Solution 2

In Xcode 6 you can do this in the storyboard:

Solution 3

Starting from iOS 6 you can set an attributed string to the UILabel. Check the following :

NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:label.text];
NSMutableParagraphStyle *paragraphStyle = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = spacing;
[attributedString addAttribute:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName value:paragraphStyle range:NSMakeRange(0, label.text.length)];

label.attributedText = attributedString;

Solution 4

The solutions stated here didn't work for me. I found a slightly different way to do it with the iOS 6 NSAttributeString:

myLabel.numberOfLines = 0; 
NSString* string = @"String with line one. \n Line two. \n Line three.";
NSMutableParagraphStyle *style  = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
style.minimumLineHeight = 30.f;
style.maximumLineHeight = 30.f;
NSDictionary *attributtes = @{NSParagraphStyleAttributeName : style,};
myLabel.attributedText = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:string
                                                         attributes:attributtes];   
[myLabel sizeToFit];

Solution 5

From Interface Builder (Storyboard/XIB):

Programmatically:

SWift 4

Using label extension

extension UILabel {

    // Pass value for any one of both parameters and see result
    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 = "How to\ncontrol\nthe\nline spacing\nin UILabel"
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 = "How to\ncontrol\nthe\nline spacing\nin UILabel"
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

View more solutions

Comments

[Suresh Varma]

possible duplicate of How to increase a space between two lines in multiline label?

[Mark Amery]

May I suggest that you accept one of the answers that is correct for iOS 6.0 and later? The currently accepted answer is out of date.

[mfaani]

For each line use a new UILabel, then embed all labels in a StackView. Finally adjust the spacing of StackView. Remember to stack them vertically.

[Sneha]

Refer the following link for solution in Swift 2. stackoverflow.com/a/39158698/6602495

[lal]

Refer to stackoverflow.com/a/44325650/342794 for storyboard tweak and other details.

[ıɾuǝʞ]

Since iOS 6.0, you can control it via NSAttributedString (also available in properties of UILable in Xcode's interface builder).

[Denis Kutlubaev]

This worked for me, thanks. I also tried to use MTLabel, but this one was better.

[esreli]

Does anyone know if MSLabel supports the '\n' character?

[lothorp]

Interestingly, as near as I can tell, you can add extra spacing between the lines, but not reduce it via the NSParagraphStyle when using an NSAttributedString. (I may need to do more testing of the other modifyable properties, but the lineSpacing property only allows you to increase it.)

[d.ennis]

see my answer to see a way using NSAttributedString

[infinity26]

Line height is font size dependent. Line spacing is just that, line spacing. You may get things to work out by just setting min/max line height, but that's only because the current font sizes you're using aren't greater than the line height boundaries. Per the documentation: "... glyphs and graphics exceeding this height will overlap neighboring lines ... Although this limit applies to the line itself, line spacing adds extra space between adjacent lines."

[Mike S]

The attributedString must be an NSMutableAttributedString (NOT NSAttributedString)

[Dom Vinyard]

@livingtech That is infuriating, and I believe you are correct. Have you found any workarounds?

[CodyMace]

Here's what I did and it works great. This is using TTTAttributedLabel, but it should work for and AttributedString: NSMutableParagraphStyle *paragraphStyle = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init]; paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = 1; [mutableAttributedString addAttribute:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName value:paragraphStyle range:whole];

[Allen]

Take more advantages of storyboard!

[Allen]

The first line code should be NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString = [NSMutableAttributedString alloc]initWithString:@"sample text"];

[Zoyt]

This is exactly what I needed (I needed to compress the lines). Thanks a lot!

[PaperThick]

Using this option seems to break my ib every time, does anyone know what the issue could be there?

[Anton Gaenko]

@PaperThick have the same issue in 6.1.1. It "harlem shake" for few minutes. Doesn't know how to fix it :) Xcode Shaking

[Marcos Curvello]

Is there a way to set custom fonts this way ? I can't seem to change that helvetica neue to any other font.

[lawicko]

+1, If you want to reduce the spacing between lines, this is what you want to do. The real line spacing is most likely 0 by default, this is why people report you can only increase it. The problem with spacing being too big comes from the line height being too big, this is why this will get the job done 99% of the time.

[Fabien Warniez]

Using iOS 8.2 I was able to to reduce it. You can't set it to 0, however.

[Theo]

The lineSpacing property of the NSMutableParagraphStyle is never negative, so the line height cannot be reduced with this approach. To answer the question, you have to use another property, see @d.ennis answer.

[Anconia]

This is a great solution. Unfortunately Xcode continues to disappoint . . . freezes every time I open this box

[andrew k]

@Anconia Indeed, an unworkable solution. I've found that switching back to a plain text label will crash Xcode 6.3.2. I had to delete the label and start again.

[ED-209]

Xcode 6.3.1 when it Harlem Shakes it looks like its broken, but if you click elsewhere eventually it'll go away and all seems ok.

[ED-209]

If you enable 'Attributed', and then open the file as source code you can edit the 'lineHeightMultiple' manually, and therefore bypass the Harlem Shake bug

[Pichirichi]

@Marcos it is only working in system font, there is a radar about it for several versions, at this stage customer fonts only work via the CODe and not from the interface builder.

[dvs]

The shake bug is still there in Xcode 7.1.1. Careful what you do while it's shaking, Xcode will queue your clicks and keypresses and fire them all at once after it stops. I ended up having multiple source files modified and moved around. Edit the value directly in the storyboard XML to be safe until this absurd bug is fixed.

[BigRon]

Storyboard and I don't get along, but this is great. +1000

[LulzCow]

@azdev for anyone still looking at this, I'm on longer getting the shakes in Xcode 7.3, but I think this is the first version where it hasn't been a problem

[virsunen]

Just to clarify something in this thread. If you want to shrink the line spacing set the line height to 1.0, and then setLineHeightMultiple to a lower value < 1.0, like: [paragraphStyle setLineHeightMultiple:0.8] or paragraphStyle.lineHeightMultiple = 0.8

[mfaani]

@MarcosCurvello My solution here is a workaround that may be useful.

[mfaani]

remember if you doing this while you are also using Storyboard for this label, then be sure to set your label's lines to 0

[mfaani]

Why don't you just directly set the lineSpacing and forget about setting lineHeightMultiple?

[Agustin Meriles]

Because the key to reduce the line height is 'lineHeightMultiple', no lineSpacing

[mfaani]

say you want your line height to be 1.4, why can't you just write .lineSpacing = 1.4 and forget all about .lineHeightMultiple...

[mfaani]

Hah! I tried, and I didn't work, but I wonder why I don't see other answers here not using your mechanism, I mean they just directly set the lineSpacing. See the accepted answer...

[mfaani]

1) why are mentioning tableViewCell is there any discussion about a tableView or a cell? 2) when we are changing the layout, why don't we need to call 'setNeedsDisplay' again?

[Mazyod]

@Honey A UI element is required to see the feature in action. Any will do. Other answers use UILabel, I used NSTextField within a NSTableCellView. Layout and drawing are separate things. setNeedsDisplay is for drawing and rendering updates.

[Albert Bori]

This is the only answer I could find that uses the actual line height value (instead of a ratio) common to design applications such as Photoshop, Sketch, CSS, etc.

[UKDataGeek]

This seems to push my uilabel downwards when i put it in a stackview- anyone have a working project?

[Russell Warwick]

This should help with it. You can then assign your label to this custom class within the storyboard and use it's parameters directly within the properties.

[Neuron]

please don't put content related to your answer in the comments. your answer should be helpful without having to read through the comments

[mfaani]

FWIW this is a terrible yet workable solution. Hence I'm keeping it.

[Nithin Michael]

Add the line " paragraphStyle.alignment = self.textAlignment" to keep the original alignment . Otherwise, the text will be left aligned.

[iDeveloper]

You saved me friend :)

[cabyambo]

It works, but you have to make sure you've already assigned text to the label. Otherwise it will crash when your code tries to unwrap the text attribute

[christostsang]

For anyone loosing ellipsis on large texts, then use: paragraphStyle.lineBreakMode = .byTruncatingTail

[Pavel Alexeev]

extra padding must be (lineHeightMultiple - 1.0) * font.pointSize, right?

[phatmann]

The code above as-is seemed to work for me. But maybe you are right. Did you try your change? @PavelAlexeev

[Pavel Alexeev]

No, I stick with lineSpacing instead of lineHeightMultiple :)

[Shrikant Phadke]

what worked for me is this. extension UILabel { func setLineHeight(lineHeight: CGFloat) { let text = self.text if let text = text { let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text) let style = NSMutableParagraphStyle() style.lineHeightMultiple = lineHeight attributedString.addAttribute(.paragraphStyle, value: style, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: text.count)) self.attributedText = attributedString } } }

[Wahab Khan Jadon]

This solution works for me i just change paragraphStyle.alignment = .center to paragraphStyle.lineBreakMode = .byTruncatingTail paragraphStyle.baseWritingDirection = NSParagraphStyle.defaultWritingDirection(forLanguage: GeneralMethods.getSelectedLanguage().stringValue) and its automatically adopt direction according to selected language.