Highlighting search result in UITableView cell iOS Swift

Question

I have implemented a search bar in a TableView. Now I want to highlight the result. For example, if I have typed two letters then those two letters should be highlighted in the resultant TableView that drops down from the search bar. Can anyone help me to do this? I know I should use custom cells for this, but am lost implementing it.

Bey

what have you looked at so far? attributed strings? show your current code – Wineskin

@Wineskin no i haven't done anything yet. but saw the code for attributed strings in objective c. couldn't understand.. can you help me with this – Bey

Possible duplicate of Highlight the searched text in UITableView using UISearchBar – Ganiats

@Ganiats it doesn't have elaborate answer – Bey

Answer 1

Here is the second way to attribute text in tableview

   let initialtext =   "Hello World"
    let attrString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: initialtext)

let range: NSRange = (initialtext as NSString).rangeOfString(("World" , options:NSStringCompareOptions.CaseInsensitiveSearch])


    attrString.addAttribute(NSForegroundColorAttributeName, value: UIColor.redColor(), range: range)


    cell!.textLabel?.attributedText = attrString

Sturgis

Answer 2

@Vijay has a good, correct answer for this post.

I modified this slightly for my own purposes (bolding the text in my search results) by creating a function that accepts the searchString and the string you want to modify - the resultString - and returns an attributedString that can be applied to a UILabel.

I also had this check for the lowercaseString attribute, so that regardless of what I typed into my search bar, my string would match the characters rather than the case (this requirement may be different, depending on your use-case).

func boldSearchResult(searchString: String, resultString: String) -> NSMutableAttributedString {

    let attributedString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: resultString)
    let pattern = searchString.lowercaseString
    let range: NSRange = NSMakeRange(0, resultString.characters.count)

    let regex = try! NSRegularExpression(pattern: pattern, options: NSRegularExpressionOptions())

    regex.enumerateMatchesInString(resultString.lowercaseString, options: NSMatchingOptions(), range: range) { (textCheckingResult, matchingFlags, stop) -> Void in
        let subRange = textCheckingResult?.range
        attributedString.addAttribute(NSFontAttributeName, value: UIFont.customBoldedFontNameWithSize(15.0), range: subRange!)
    }

    return attributedString

}

Note: I had a custom bolded font to work with, but you could always use UIFont.boldSystemFontOfSize(fontSize: CGFloat) or something like that to get a similar effect.

Then, just add the result to your label by doing (some variation of):

cell.myCustomLabel.attributedText = boldSearchResult(mySearchText, resultString: textForBolding)

Unboned

Answer 3

Swift 5 version of Vijayvir's answer:

let initialtext = "Hello, World!"

let attrString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: initialtext)

let range = (initialtext as NSString).range(of: "World", options: .caseInsensitive)

attrString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor, value: UIColor.red, range: range)

cell.textLabel?.attributedText = attrString

Update 2020: Here's a simple String extension you can use to easily make an attributed string.

extension String {

    func highlightText(
        _ text: String,
        with color: UIColor,
        caseInsensitivie: Bool = false,
        font: UIFont = .preferredFont(forTextStyle: .body)) -> NSAttributedString
    {
        let attrString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: self)
        let range = (self as NSString).range(of: text, options: caseInsensitivie ? .caseInsensitive : [])
        attrString.addAttribute(
            .foregroundColor,
            value: color,
            range: range)
        attrString.addAttribute(
            .font,
            value: font,
            range: NSRange(location: 0, length: attrString.length))
        return attrString
    }

}

Louie

Answer 4

You could achieve this by find the search term string range from your result string and adding attributed string at that range. Find the sample code below,

Objective-C

NSString *searchTerm = /* SEARCH_TERM */;
NSString *resultText = /* YOUR_RESULT_TEXT */;

NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:resultText];

NSString *pattern = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"(%@)", searchTerm];
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:pattern options:kNilOptions error:nil];
NSRange range = NSMakeRange(0, resultText.length);

[regex enumerateMatchesInString:resultText options:kNilOptions range:range usingBlock:^(NSTextCheckingResult *result, NSMatchingFlags flags, BOOL *stop) {

    NSRange subStringRange = [result rangeAtIndex:1];

    [attributedString addAttribute:NSForegroundColorAttributeName
                             value:[UIColor redColor]
                             range:subStringRange];
}];

Swift (TESTED)

let searchTerm = "" /* SEARCH_TERM */
let resultText = "" /* YOUR_RESULT_TEXT */
let attributedString:NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: resultText)
let pattern = "(\(searchTerm))"
let range:NSRange = NSMakeRange(0, resultText.characters.count)

let regex = try! NSRegularExpression( pattern: pattern, options: NSRegularExpressionOptions())
regex.enumerateMatchesInString(
     resultText,
     options: NSMatchingOptions(),
     range: range,
     usingBlock: {
        (textCheckingResult, matchingFlags, stop) -> Void in
           let subRange = textCheckingResult?.range
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSForegroundColorAttributeName, value: UIColor.redColor(), range: subRange!)
            }
        )

Underestimate

@GaneshKumar Edited my answer. – Underestimate

i have used predicates for filtering. Where should i use the code.. In the filter? or in the cellforRowatIndexPath? – Bey

@GaneshKumar If you are using table view to render your search result then you have to use this as cellForRowAtIndexPath. – Underestimate

@GaneshKumar If my answer is useful then accept it meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5234/… – Underestimate

Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Bey

@GaneshKumar Accept my answer if it's useful. – Underestimate

Answer 5

Tried to keep it as slim as possible. The function returns an attributed string with searchText occurrences in bold. Swift 4.2+

  private func boldedString(with baseString: String, searchString: String, fontSize: CGFloat) -> NSAttributedString? {
    guard let regex = try? NSRegularExpression(pattern: searchString, options: .caseInsensitive) else {
        return nil
    }

    let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: baseString)
    let boldFont = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: fontSize, weight: .bold)
    regex
      .matches(in: baseString, options: .withTransparentBounds,
               range: NSRange(location: 0, length: baseString.utf16.count))
      .forEach {
        attributedString.addAttributes([.font: boldFont], range: $0.range)
    }
    return attributedString
  }

In the cell you will need to add code like this for configuration:

func configure(with text: String, searchText: String?) {
  if let boldedAddress = boldedString(with: text,
                                      searchString: searchText,
                                      fontSize: titleLabel.font.pointSize) {
    titleLabel.attributedText = boldedAddress
  } else {
    titleLabel.text = locationInfo.location.address
  }
}

Nicotine

Answer 6

This solution works with escaped characters Like ({}[]()'") this solution written in SWIFT 5.

func generateAttributedString(with searchTerm: String, targetString: NSAttributedString) -> NSAttributedString? {
    let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: targetString)
    do {

        let regex = try NSRegularExpression(pattern:  NSRegularExpression.escapedPattern(for: searchTerm).trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines).folding(options: .regularExpression, locale: .current), options: .caseInsensitive)
        let range = NSRange(location: 0, length: targetString.string.utf16.count)
        attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.backgroundColor, value: UIColor.clear, range: range)


        for match in regex.matches(in: targetString.string.folding(options: .regularExpression, locale: .current), options: .withTransparentBounds, range: range) {
            attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.backgroundColor, value: UIColor.yellow, range: match.range)
        }
        return attributedString
    } catch {
        NSLog("Error creating regular expresion: \(error)")
        return nil
    }
}

Embracery