UILabel text margin

Question

I'm looking to set the left inset/margin of a UILabel and can't find a method to do so. The label has a background set so just changing its origin won't do the trick. It would be ideal to inset the text by 10px or so on the left hand side.

Solution 1

I solved this by subclassing UILabel and overriding drawTextInRect: like this:

- (void)drawTextInRect:(CGRect)rect {
    UIEdgeInsets insets = {0, 5, 0, 5};
    [super drawTextInRect:UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(rect, insets)];
}

Swift 3.1:

override func drawText(in rect: CGRect) {
    let insets = UIEdgeInsets.init(top: 0, left: 5, bottom: 0, right: 5)
    super.drawText(in: UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(rect, insets))
}

Swift 4.2.1:

override func drawText(in rect: CGRect) {
    let insets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 5, bottom: 0, right: 5)
    super.drawText(in: rect.inset(by: insets))
}

As you might have gathered, this is an adaptation of tc.'s answer. It has two advantages over that one:

1. there's no need to trigger it by sending a sizeToFit message
2. it leaves the label frame alone - handy if your label has a background and you don't want that to shrink

Solution 2

For multiline text the left and the right margin can be set by using NSAttributedString.

NSMutableParagraphStyle *style =  [[NSParagraphStyle defaultParagraphStyle] mutableCopy];
style.alignment = NSTextAlignmentJustified;
style.firstLineHeadIndent = 10.0f;
style.headIndent = 10.0f;
style.tailIndent = -10.0f;   

NSAttributedString *attrText = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:title attributes:@{ NSParagraphStyleAttributeName : style}];  

UILabel * label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:someFrame];
label.numberOfLines = 0;
label.attributedText = attrText;

Here is the above example adopted to Swift 5:

extension UILabel {
    func setMargins(margin: CGFloat = 10) {
        if let textString = self.text {
            var paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
            paragraphStyle.firstLineHeadIndent = margin
            paragraphStyle.headIndent = margin
            paragraphStyle.tailIndent = -margin
            let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: textString)
            attributedString.addAttribute(.paragraphStyle, value: paragraphStyle, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: attributedString.length))
            attributedText = attributedString
        }
    }
}

Solution 3

The best approach to add padding to a UILabel is to subclass UILabel and add an edgeInsets property. You then set the desired insets and the label will be drawn accordingly.

OSLabel.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface OSLabel : UILabel

@property (nonatomic, assign) UIEdgeInsets edgeInsets;

@end

OSLabel.m

#import "OSLabel.h"

@implementation OSLabel

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame{
    self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
    if (self) {
        self.edgeInsets = UIEdgeInsetsMake(0, 0, 0, 0);
    }
    return self;
}

- (void)drawTextInRect:(CGRect)rect {
    [super drawTextInRect:UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(rect, self.edgeInsets)];
}

- (CGSize)intrinsicContentSize
{
    CGSize size = [super intrinsicContentSize];
    size.width  += self.edgeInsets.left + self.edgeInsets.right;
    size.height += self.edgeInsets.top + self.edgeInsets.bottom;
    return size;
}

@end

Solution 4

Subclassing is a little cumbersome for such a simple case. An alternative is to simply add the UILabel with no background set to a UIView with the background set. Set the label's x to 10 and make the outer view's size 20 pixels wider than the label.

Solution 5

With Swift 3, you can have the desired effect by creating a subclass of UILabel. In this subclass, you will have to add a UIEdgeInsets property with the required insets and override drawText(in:) method, intrinsicContentSize property (for Auto layout code) and/or sizeThatFits(_:) method (for Springs & Struts code).

import UIKit

class PaddingLabel: UILabel {

    let padding: UIEdgeInsets

    // Create a new PaddingLabel instance programamtically with the desired insets
    required init(padding: UIEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 10, bottom: 0, right: 10)) {
        self.padding = padding
        super.init(frame: CGRect.zero)
    }

    // Create a new PaddingLabel instance programamtically with default insets
    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        padding = UIEdgeInsets.zero // set desired insets value according to your needs
        super.init(frame: frame)
    }

    // Create a new PaddingLabel instance from Storyboard with default insets
    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        padding = UIEdgeInsets.zero // set desired insets value according to your needs
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
    }

    override func drawText(in rect: CGRect) {
        super.drawText(in: UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(rect, padding))
    }

    // Override `intrinsicContentSize` property for Auto layout code
    override var intrinsicContentSize: CGSize {
        let superContentSize = super.intrinsicContentSize
        let width = superContentSize.width + padding.left + padding.right
        let height = superContentSize.height + padding.top + padding.bottom
        return CGSize(width: width, height: height)
    }

    // Override `sizeThatFits(_:)` method for Springs & Struts code
    override func sizeThatFits(_ size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
        let superSizeThatFits = super.sizeThatFits(size)
        let width = superSizeThatFits.width + padding.left + padding.right
        let heigth = superSizeThatFits.height + padding.top + padding.bottom
        return CGSize(width: width, height: heigth)
    }

}

The following example shows how to use PaddingLabel instances in a UIViewController:

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    @IBOutlet weak var storyboardAutoLayoutLabel: PaddingLabel!
    let autoLayoutLabel = PaddingLabel(padding: UIEdgeInsets(top: 20, left: 40, bottom: 20, right: 40))
    let springsAndStructsLabel = PaddingLabel(frame: CGRect.zero)
    var textToDisplay = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit er elit lamet."

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        // Set autoLayoutLabel
        autoLayoutLabel.text = textToDisplay
        autoLayoutLabel.backgroundColor = .red
        autoLayoutLabel.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        view.addSubview(autoLayoutLabel)
        autoLayoutLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor, constant: 30).isActive = true
        autoLayoutLabel.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.centerYAnchor).isActive = true

        // Set springsAndStructsLabel
        springsAndStructsLabel.text = textToDisplay
        springsAndStructsLabel.backgroundColor = .green
        view.addSubview(springsAndStructsLabel)
        springsAndStructsLabel.frame.origin = CGPoint(x: 30, y: 90)
        springsAndStructsLabel.sizeToFit()

        // Set storyboardAutoLayoutLabel
        storyboardAutoLayoutLabel.text = textToDisplay
        storyboardAutoLayoutLabel.backgroundColor = .blue
    }

    // Link this IBAction to a UIButton or a UIBarButtonItem in Storyboard
    @IBAction func updateLabelText(_ sender: Any) {
        textToDisplay = textToDisplay == "Lorem ipsum dolor sit er elit lamet." ? "Lorem ipsum." : "Lorem ipsum dolor sit er elit lamet."

        // autoLayoutLabel
        autoLayoutLabel.text = textToDisplay

        // springsAndStructsLabel
        springsAndStructsLabel.text = textToDisplay
        springsAndStructsLabel.sizeToFit()

        // storyboardAutoLayoutLabel
        storyboardAutoLayoutLabel.text = textToDisplay
    }

}

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