Pixel Width of the text in a UILabel

Question

I need to draw a UILabel striked through. Therefore I subclassed UILabel and implemented it as follows:

@implementation UIStrikedLabel

- (void)drawTextInRect:(CGRect)rect{
    [super drawTextInRect:rect];

    CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
    CGContextFillRect(context,CGRectMake(0,rect.size.height/2,rect.size.width,1));
}
@end

What happens is that the the UILabel is striked through with a line being as long as the whole label, but the text can be shorter. Is there a way to determine the length of the text in pixels, such that the line can appropriately be drawn?

I'm also open to any other solutions, if known :)

Best, Erik

Leanoraleant

Answer 1

NSString has a sizeWithAttributes: method that can be used for this. It returns a CGSize structure, so you could do something similar to the following to find the width of the text inside your label.

iOS 7 and higher

CGSize textSize = [[label text] sizeWithAttributes:@{NSFontAttributeName:[label font]}];

CGFloat strikeWidth = textSize.width;

iOS <7

Prior to iOS7, you had to use the sizeWithFont: method.

CGSize textSize = [[label text] sizeWithFont:[label font]];

CGFloat strikeWidth = textSize.width;

UILabel has a font property that you can use to dynamically get the font details for your label as i'm doing above.

Bunnie

sizeWithFont is deprecated since iOS7. Use CGSize textSize = [string sizeWithAttributes:@{NSFontAttributeName:[UIFont systemFontOfSize:14.0f]}]; instead. – Dusky

You can also use label.attributedText.size. – Lac

Answer 2

A better solution, here in Swift:
Update:
For Swift 3/4:

@IBOutlet weak var testLabel: UILabel!
// in any function
testLabel.text = "New Label Text"
let width = testLabel.intrinsicContentSize.width
let height = testLabel.intrinsicContentSize.height
print("width:\(width), height: \(height)")

Old Answer:

yourLabel?.text = "Test label text" // sample label text
let labelTextWidth = yourLabel?.intrinsicContentSize().width
let labelTextHeight = yourLabel?.intrinsicContentSize().height

Eleazar

is this ios 7 compatible? – Taxexempt

This option is significantly faster – Popp

Newb question.. Don't you need a width/height to create a label though? At least that's where I am. Trying to find the width of the text that I'm creating a label with. let sanskritLabel = UILabel(frame: CGRectMake(0, 120, sanskritStringSize.width, sanskritStringSize.height)) – Ingrain

Answer 3

This will work. Try it

NSDictionary *attrDict = @{NSFontAttributeName : [GenericUtility getOpenSansRegularFontSize:12]};
CGSize stringBoundingBox = [selectedReservationModel.DateLabel sizeWithAttributes: attrDict];
lblDeliveryDateWidth = stringBoundingBox.width;

Hetrick