UILabel - auto-size label to fit text?

Question

Is it possible to auto-resize the UILabel box/bounds to fit the contained text? (I don't care if it ends up larger than the display)

So if a user enters "hello" or "my name is really long i want it to fit in this box", it is never truncated and the label is 'widened' accordingly?

Anyone please help me with providing swift codes.. – Angel F Syrus Dec 13 '18 at 06:06 — Angel F Syrus, Dec 13 '18 at 06:06

score 99 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 11 '18 at 11:30

99

Please check out my gist where I have made a category for UILabel for something very similar, my category lets a UILabel stretch it's height to show all the content: https://gist.github.com/1005520

Or check out this post: https://stackoverflow.com/a/7242981/662605

This would stretch the height, but you can change it around easily to work the other way and stretch the width with something like this, which is I believe what you want to do:

@implementation UILabel (dynamicSizeMeWidth)

- (void)resizeToStretch{
    float width = [self expectedWidth];
    CGRect newFrame = [self frame];
    newFrame.size.width = width;
    [self setFrame:newFrame];
}

- (float)expectedWidth{
    [self setNumberOfLines:1];

    CGSize maximumLabelSize = CGSizeMake(CGRectGetWidth(self.bounds), CGFLOAT_MAX);

    CGSize expectedLabelSize = [[self text] sizeWithFont:[self font] 
                                            constrainedToSize:maximumLabelSize
                                            lineBreakMode:[self lineBreakMode]]; 
    return expectedLabelSize.width;
}

@end

You could more simply use the sizeToFit method available from the UIView class, but set the number of lines to 1 to be safe.

iOS 6 update

If you are using AutoLayout, then you have a built in solution. By setting the number of lines to 0, the framework will resize your label appropriately (adding more height) to fit your text.

iOS 8 update

sizeWithFont: is deprecated so use sizeWithAttributes: instead:

- (float)expectedWidth{
    [self setNumberOfLines:1];

    CGSize expectedLabelSize = [[self text] sizeWithAttributes:@{NSFontAttributeName:self.font}];

    return expectedLabelSize.width;
}

edited Jul 11 '18 at 11:30

Yaroslav Luchyt

223
3
7

answered Jan 10 '12 at 00:01

Daniel

22,521
12
107
150

8

Using the iOS 6 AutoLayout method I ended up with a height constraint on my label I couldn't get rid of. Setting the Relation of the height constraint to 'Greater Than or Equal' allowed the height to grow. – Michael Luton Oct 19 '12 at 20:53
2

sizeWithFont: constrainedToSize: lineBreakMode:method depricated in ios 7 – Karan Alangat Oct 18 '14 at 09:44
1

UILabel is not resizing itself when text is less / more. i am using Auto-layout. Tried Making UILabel but they are created everytime cellForRowAtIndex is initialised . Tried lots of things . Nothing working for me . Background of uilabel take the same width . HELp !!! – coreDeviOS Dec 23 '14 at 09:48
@Daniel I set the number of lines=0, but its not working. I have set the constraints of horizontally and vertically center. One extra thing I have done is made a subclass of UILABEL and using it for that Label – Jasmeet May 17 '16 at 08:53
With Autolayout the simplest solution to: (1) Set Lines to 0, (2) Set width constraint to "Greater Than or Equal" with Constant 0, (3) Set height constraint to "Greater Than or Equal" with Constant 0, (4) Align as you normally would, for example by centering horizontally and vertically. – Erik van der Neut Dec 19 '17 at 00:42
When you have hard line returns in your multi-line text, then with Autolayout the simplest solution to: (1) Set Lines to 0, (2) Set width constraint to "Greater Than or Equal" with Constant 0, (3) Set height constraint to "Greater Than or Equal" with Constant 0, (4) Align as you normally would, for example by centering horizontally and vertically. If you don't have hard line-returns in the text, but instead want to constrain it to a specific width, then under (2) set a specific "Equal" constraint instead. – Erik van der Neut Dec 19 '17 at 00:49

Guilherme Torres Castro · Answer 2 · 2016-06-28T17:40:53.660

76

Using [label sizeToFit]; will achieve the same result from Daniels Category.

Although I recommend to use autolayout and let the label resize itself based on constraints.

edited Jun 28 '16 at 17:40

answered Oct 30 '13 at 21:54

Guilherme Torres Castro

13,434
6
54
95

3

When using swift i had to run this on main thread using dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(),{}); – Zeezer Mar 24 '15 at 09:54
@Zeezer do you know why? – FurloSK Jul 15 '15 at 10:10
13

@FurloSK Any changes on the ui must be done in the main thread. – Guilherme Torres Castro Jul 15 '15 at 14:56

score 32 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

32

If we want that UILabel should shrink and expand based on text size then storyboard with autolayout is best option. Below are the steps to achieve this

Steps

Put UILabel in view controller and place it wherever you want. Also put 0 for numberOfLines property of UILabel.
Give it Top, Leading and Trailing space pin constraint.

enter image description here

Now it will give warning, Click on the yellow arrow.

enter image description here

Click on Update Frame and click on Fix Misplacement. Now this UILabel will shrink if text is less and expand if text is more.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered May 05 '15 at 09:51

Yogesh Suthar

29,554
17
66
96

1

I haven't tested for localization, but it should work for that too. – Yogesh Suthar Aug 03 '15 at 16:24
2

I could not get this to work with an existing project until I unchecked the "Preferred width" "Explicit" checkbox, then it all worked fine. – zorro2b Sep 22 '16 at 01:56

score 25 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

25

This is not as complicated as some of the other answers make it.

Pin the left and top edges

Just use auto layout to add constraints to pin the left and top sides of the label.

After that it will automatically resize.

Notes

Don't add constraints for the width and height. Labels have an intrinsic size based on their text content.
Thanks to this answer for help with this.

No need to set sizeToFit when using auto layout. My complete code for the example project is here:

import UIKit
class ViewController: UIViewController {

    @IBOutlet weak var myLabel: UILabel!

    @IBAction func changeTextButtonTapped(sender: UIButton) {
        myLabel.text = "my name is really long i want it to fit in this box"
    }
}

If you want your label to line wrap then set the number of lines to 0 in IB and add myLabel.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = 150 // or whatever in code. (I also pinned my button to the bottom of the label so that it would move down when the label height increased.)

If you are looking for dynamically sizing labels inside a UITableViewCell then see this answer.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

Community

1
1

answered Apr 01 '16 at 05:51

Suragch

364,799
232
1,155
1,198

Hi, I got the resized label but I don't understand how to resize of cell height. Can you please let me know how to resize cell height. – Vivek Nov 08 '17 at 11:50
@Vivek, as long as you don't have any constraints set on the height, it should resize automatically. – Suragch Nov 08 '17 at 12:12
Yes, But How It possible when I use custom cell and I put 2 label in his cell. – Vivek Nov 08 '17 at 12:14
@Vivek, sorry, I misread your question. Did you already get one label to work by going through [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/36422189/3681880)? – Suragch Nov 08 '17 at 13:57

score 9 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 21 '14 at 08:18

9

Use [label sizeToFit]; to adjust the text in UILabel

edited Jul 21 '14 at 08:18

codercat

21,439
9
56
84

answered May 21 '14 at 06:59

Gaurav Gilani

1,586
14
18

score 6 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 28 '18 at 02:29

Here's what I am finding works for my situation:

1) The height of the UILabel has a >= 0 constraint using autolayout. The width is fixed. 2) Assign the text into the UILabel, which already has a superview at that point (not sure how vital that is). 3) Then, do:

    label.sizeToFit()
    label.layoutIfNeeded()

The height of the label is now set appropriately.

score 5 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 26 '13 at 16:28

I created some methods based Daniel's reply above.

-(CGFloat)heightForLabel:(UILabel *)label withText:(NSString *)text
{
    CGSize maximumLabelSize     = CGSizeMake(290, FLT_MAX);

    CGSize expectedLabelSize    = [text sizeWithFont:label.font
                                constrainedToSize:maximumLabelSize
                                    lineBreakMode:label.lineBreakMode];

    return expectedLabelSize.height;
}

-(void)resizeHeightToFitForLabel:(UILabel *)label
{
    CGRect newFrame         = label.frame;
    newFrame.size.height    = [self heightForLabel:label withText:label.text];
    label.frame             = newFrame;
}

-(void)resizeHeightToFitForLabel:(UILabel *)label withText:(NSString *)text
{
    label.text              = text;
    [self resizeHeightToFitForLabel:label];
}

score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 10 '12 at 02:02

@implementation UILabel (UILabel_Auto)

- (void)adjustHeight {

    if (self.text == nil) {
        self.frame = CGRectMake(self.frame.origin.x, self.frame.origin.y, self.bounds.size.width, 0);
        return;
    }

    CGSize aSize = self.bounds.size;
    CGSize tmpSize = CGRectInfinite.size;
    tmpSize.width = aSize.width;

    tmpSize = [self.text sizeWithFont:self.font constrainedToSize:tmpSize];

    self.frame = CGRectMake(self.frame.origin.x, self.frame.origin.y, aSize.width, tmpSize.height);
}

@end

This is category method. You must set text first, than call this method to adjust UILabel's height.

score 2 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 10 '15 at 11:38

You can size your label according to text and other related controls using two ways-

For iOS 7.0 and above

CGSize labelTextSize = [labelText boundingRectWithSize:CGSizeMake(labelsWidth, MAXFLOAT)
                                          options:NSStringDrawingUsesLineFragmentOrigin
                                       attributes:@{
                                                    NSFontAttributeName : labelFont
                                                    }
                                          context:nil].size;

before iOS 7.0 this could be used to calculate label size

CGSize labelTextSize = [label.text sizeWithFont:label.font 
                            constrainedToSize:CGSizeMake(label.frame.size.width, MAXFLOAT)  
                                lineBreakMode:NSLineBreakByWordWrapping];

// reframe other controls based on labelTextHeight

CGFloat labelTextHeight = labelTextSize.height;

If you do not want to calculate the size of the label's text than you can use -sizeToFit on the instance of UILabel as-

[label setNumberOfLines:0]; // for multiline label
[label setText:@"label text to set"];
[label sizeToFit];// call this to fit size of the label according to text

// after this you can get the label frame to reframe other related controls

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 11 '15 at 05:55

2

Add missing constraints in storyboard.
Select UILabel in storyboard and set the attributes "Line" to 0.
Ref Outlet the UILabel to Controller.h with id:label
Controller.m and add [label sizeToFit]; in viewDidLoad

answered Aug 11 '15 at 05:55

user2941395

109
2
2

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Apr 21 '16 at 14:55

1

I had a huge problems with auto layout. We have two containers inside table cell. Second container is resized depending on Item description (0 - 1000 chars), and row should be resized based on them.

The missing ingredient was bottom constraint for description.

I've changed bottom constraint of dynamic element from = 0 to >= 0.

answered Apr 21 '16 at 14:55

Bojan Tadic

43
6

This saved my life. If you're attempting to follow: https://github.com/honghaoz/Dynamic-Collection-View-Cell-With-Auto-Layout-Demo this is the correct answer. – Justin Fyles May 04 '16 at 02:56

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered May 17 '16 at 14:10

Fits everytime! :)

    name.text = @"Hi this the text I want to fit to"
    UIFont * font = 14.0f;
    CGSize size = [name.text sizeWithAttributes:@{NSFontAttributeName: font}];
    nameOfAssessment.frame = CGRectMake(400, 0, size.width, 44);
    nameOfAssessment.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:font];

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Jan 06 '17 at 06:29

0

you can show one line output then set property Line=0 and show multiple line output then set property Line=1 and more

[self.yourLableName sizeToFit];

answered Jan 06 '17 at 06:29

Dixit Akabari

1,959
9
21

score -1 · Answer 14 · edited Jun 10 '15 at 11:37

-1

There's also this approach:

[self.myLabel changeTextWithAutoHeight:self.myStringToAssignToLabel width:180.0f];

edited Jun 10 '15 at 11:37

Kampai

21,517
19
87
90

answered Jun 13 '14 at 22:16

Dave Cole

2,129
1
16
22

It wasn't me who downvoted this answer but I just wanted to point out that I cannot see a `changeTextWithAutoHeight:width:` method on `UILabel`. Could you provide a link please to where in the UIKit documentation this method can be found. – Adil Hussain Feb 26 '19 at 14:44

UILabel - auto-size label to fit text?

14 Answers14

iOS 6 update

iOS 8 update

Steps

Pin the left and top edges

Notes

Linked

Related