Make link in UILabel.attributedText not blue and not underlined

Question

I want some words within my OHAttributedLabel to be links, but I want them to be colors other than blue and I don't want the underline.

This is giving me a blue link with underlined text:

 -(void)createLinkFromWord:(NSString*)word withColor:(UIColor*)color atRange:(NSRange)range{

    NSMutableAttributedString* mutableAttributedText = [self.label.attributedText mutableCopy];   

    [mutableAttributedText beginEditing];
    [mutableAttributedText addAttribute:kOHLinkAttributeName
                   value:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.somewhere.net"]
                   range:range];

    [mutableAttributedText addAttribute:(id)kCTForegroundColorAttributeName
                   value:color
                   range:range];

    [mutableAttributedText addAttribute:(id)kCTUnderlineStyleAttributeName
                   value:[NSNumber numberWithInt:kCTUnderlineStyleNone]
                   range:range];
    [mutableAttributedText endEditing];


    self.label.attributedText = mutableAttributedText;

}

Since I'm using OHAttributedLabel, I also tried using the methods in it's NSAttributedString+Attributes.h category, but those return blue underlined links as well:

-(void)createLinkFromWord:(NSString*)word withColor:(UIColor*)color atRange:(NSRange)range{

NSMutableAttributedString* mutableAttributedText = [self.label.attributedText mutableCopy];

[mutableAttributedText setLink:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.somewhere.net"] range:range];
[mutableAttributedText setTextColor:color range:range];
[mutableAttributedText setTextUnderlineStyle:kCTUnderlineStyleNone range:range];

self.label.attributedText = mutableAttributedText;
}

If I comment out the line setting the links in each version, the text gets colored to what I pass in - that works. It just seems like setting the link is overriding this and turning it back to blue.

Unfortunately the apple docs page I found shows how to set the link text to blue and underline it, exactly what I don't need: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/AttributedStrings/Tasks/ChangingAttrStrings.html

score 62 · Accepted Answer · edited May 02 '15 at 21:55

62

So I ended up using TTTAttributedLabel:

-(void)createLinkFromWord:(NSString*)word withColor:(UIColor*)color atRange:(NSRange)range{
    NSMutableAttributedString* newTextWithLinks = [self.label.attributedText mutableCopy];
    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.reddit.com"];
    self.label.linkAttributes = @{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color, 
                                   NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: @(NSUnderlineStyleNone)};
    [self.label addLinkToURL:url withRange:range];
}

I found that OHAttributedLabel actually does have methods to set links and declare colors and underline styles for those links. However, I wanted the links to be different colors based on a parameter. TTTAttributedLabel allows this by letting you set it's linkAttributes property for each link you create.

edited May 02 '15 at 21:55

rounak

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answered Mar 19 '13 at 04:53

OdieO

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14

Also make sure to set `linkAttributes` before adding a link to the label. – damirstuhec May 18 '15 at 12:31
2

Is there no other way to set the link color except with some github project? the linkAttributes property is not available for a UILabel. – TheJeff Aug 26 '16 at 20:16
I cant see where you use the "word" argument and the newTextWithLinks variable. – Hola Soy Edu Feliz Navidad Mar 25 '21 at 15:00

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 04 '15 at 14:17

23

I am using TTTAttributedLabel. I wanted to change the color of the linked text, and keep it underlined. Pim's answer looked great, but didn't work for me. Here's what did work:

label.linkAttributes = @{ (id)kCTForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor magentaColor],
                           (id)kCTUnderlineStyleAttributeName : [NSNumber numberWithInt:NSUnderlineStyleSingle] };

Note: if you don't want the text underlined, then remove the kCTUnderlineStyleAttributeName key from the dictionary.

answered Mar 04 '15 at 14:17

kwahn

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Great! This works for me too. But other answers don't. – Accid Bright Dec 11 '15 at 11:27
Yes, only this answer works! Using NSForegroundColorAttributeName make no sense. You must use kCTForegroundColorAttributeName. Refer to [this issue](https://github.com/TTTAttributedLabel/TTTAttributedLabel/issues/455) – flashlib Mar 23 '16 at 07:32

Pim · Answer 3 · 2015-01-24T00:55:14.340

22

Here's is my improved version of Ramsel's already great answer. I believe it's much more readable, and I hope it will come to good use.

label.linkAttributes = @{ NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor whiteColor],
                          NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: [NSNumber numberWithInt:NSUnderlineStyleSingle] };

Here's a list of other attibute names.

edited Jan 24 '15 at 00:55

answered Jun 27 '14 at 08:01

Pim

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UILabel does not have a linkAttributes property – Softlion May 24 '19 at 06:27
Correct @Softlion, but TTTAttributedLabel does. Or at least it did 4 years ago. I have no idea whether this answer is still good. – Pim May 24 '19 at 12:00

score 13 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 22 '19 at 15:09

13

If you're using a UITextView, you might have to change the tintColor property to change the link color.

edited Jan 22 '19 at 15:09

ricardopereira

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answered May 07 '15 at 06:52

Lucas Chwe

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score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 19 '18 at 05:57

If you're like me and really don't want to use TTT (or need it in your own custom implementation where you're drawing in other weird ways):

First, subclass NSLayoutManager and then override as follows:

- (void)showCGGlyphs:(const CGGlyph *)glyphs 
           positions:(const CGPoint *)positions 
               count:(NSUInteger)glyphCount
                font:(UIFont *)font 
              matrix:(CGAffineTransform)textMatrix 
          attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes
           inContext:(CGContextRef)graphicsContext
{
   UIColor *foregroundColor = attributes[NSForegroundColorAttributeName];

   if (foregroundColor)
   {
      CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(graphicsContext, foregroundColor.CGColor);
   }

   [super showCGGlyphs:glyphs 
             positions:positions 
                 count:glyphCount 
                  font:font 
                matrix:textMatrix 
            attributes:attributes 
             inContext:graphicsContext];
}

This is more or less telling the layout manager to actually respect NSForegroundColorAttributeName from your attributed string always instead of the weirdness Apple has internally for links.

If all you need to do is get a layout manager which draws correctly (as I needed), you can stop here. If you need an actually UILabel, it's painful but possible.

First, again, subclass UILabel and slap in all of these methods.

- (NSTextStorage *)textStorage
{
   if (!_textStorage)
   {
      _textStorage = [[NSTextStorage alloc] init];
      [_textStorage addLayoutManager:self.layoutManager];
      [self.layoutManager setTextStorage:_textStorage];
   }

   return _textStorage;
}

- (NSTextContainer *)textContainer
{
   if (!_textContainer)
   {
      _textContainer = [[NSTextContainer alloc] init];
      _textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0;
      _textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = self.numberOfLines;
      _textContainer.lineBreakMode = self.lineBreakMode;
      _textContainer.widthTracksTextView = YES;
      _textContainer.size = self.frame.size;

      [_textContainer setLayoutManager:self.layoutManager];
   }

   return _textContainer;
}

- (NSLayoutManager *)layoutManager
{
   if (!_layoutManager)
   {
      // Create a layout manager for rendering
      _layoutManager = [[PRYLayoutManager alloc] init];
      _layoutManager.delegate = self;
      [_layoutManager addTextContainer:self.textContainer];
   }

   return _layoutManager;
}

- (void)layoutSubviews
{
   [super layoutSubviews];

   // Update our container size when the view frame changes
   self.textContainer.size = self.bounds.size;
}

- (void)setFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
   [super setFrame:frame];

   CGSize size = frame.size;
   size.width = MIN(size.width, self.preferredMaxLayoutWidth);
   size.height = 0;
   self.textContainer.size = size;
}

- (void)setBounds:(CGRect)bounds
{
   [super setBounds:bounds];

   CGSize size = bounds.size;
   size.width = MIN(size.width, self.preferredMaxLayoutWidth);
   size.height = 0;
   self.textContainer.size = size;
}

- (void)setPreferredMaxLayoutWidth:(CGFloat)preferredMaxLayoutWidth
{
   [super setPreferredMaxLayoutWidth:preferredMaxLayoutWidth];

   CGSize size = self.bounds.size;
   size.width = MIN(size.width, self.preferredMaxLayoutWidth);
   self.textContainer.size = size;
}
- (CGRect)textRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds limitedToNumberOfLines:(NSInteger)numberOfLines
{
  // Use our text container to calculate the bounds required. First save our
  // current text container setup
  CGSize savedTextContainerSize = self.textContainer.size;
  NSInteger savedTextContainerNumberOfLines = self.textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines;

  // Apply the new potential bounds and number of lines
  self.textContainer.size = bounds.size;
  self.textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = numberOfLines;

  // Measure the text with the new state
  CGRect textBounds;
  @try
  {
      NSRange glyphRange = [self.layoutManager 
                            glyphRangeForTextContainer:self.textContainer];
      textBounds = [self.layoutManager boundingRectForGlyphRange:glyphRange
                                       inTextContainer:self.textContainer];

      // Position the bounds and round up the size for good measure
      textBounds.origin = bounds.origin;
      textBounds.size.width = ceilf(textBounds.size.width);
      textBounds.size.height = ceilf(textBounds.size.height);
  }
  @finally
  {
      // Restore the old container state before we exit under any circumstances
      self.textContainer.size = savedTextContainerSize;
      self.textContainer.maximumNumberOfLines = savedTextContainerNumberOfLines;
   }

   return textBounds;
}

- (void)setAttributedText:(NSAttributedString *)attributedText
{
    // Pass the text to the super class first
    [super setAttributedText:attributedText];

    [self.textStorage setAttributedString:attributedText];
}
- (CGPoint)_textOffsetForGlyphRange:(NSRange)glyphRange
{
   CGPoint textOffset = CGPointZero;

   CGRect textBounds = [self.layoutManager boundingRectForGlyphRange:glyphRange 
                                                     inTextContainer:self.textContainer];
   CGFloat paddingHeight = (self.bounds.size.height - textBounds.size.height) / 2.0f;
   if (paddingHeight &gt; 0)
   {
       textOffset.y = paddingHeight;
   }

   return textOffset;
}

- (void)drawTextInRect:(CGRect)rect
{
   // Calculate the offset of the text in the view
   CGPoint textOffset;
   NSRange glyphRange = [self.layoutManager glyphRangeForTextContainer:self.textContainer];
   textOffset = [self _textOffsetForGlyphRange:glyphRange];

   // Drawing code
   [self.layoutManager drawBackgroundForGlyphRange:glyphRange atPoint:textOffset];

   // for debugging the following 2 line should produce the same results
   [self.layoutManager drawGlyphsForGlyphRange:glyphRange atPoint:textOffset];
   //[super drawTextInRect:rect];
}

Shamelessly taken from here. Incredibly work on the original author's part for working this all out.

pchelnikov · Answer 6 · 2018-08-19T16:43:21.963

4

Swift 2.3 example for TTTAttributedLabel:

yourLabel.linkAttributes       = [
    NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.grayColor(),
    NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: NSNumber(bool: true)
]
yourLabel.activeLinkAttributes = [
    NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.grayColor().colorWithAlphaComponent(0.8),
    NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: NSNumber(bool: false)
]

Swift 4

yourLabel.linkAttributes = [
    .foregroundColor: UIColor.grayColor(),
    .underlineStyle: NSNumber(value: true)
]
yourLabel.activeLinkAttributes = [
    .foregroundColor: UIColor.grayColor().withAlphaComponent(0.7),
    .underlineStyle: NSNumber(value: false)
]

edited Aug 19 '18 at 16:43

answered Oct 05 '16 at 15:03

pchelnikov

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UILabel does not have linkAttributes – Ali A. Jalil Jul 23 '20 at 10:02
@AliAlaoi this example for TTTAttributedLabel – pchelnikov Jul 24 '20 at 18:30

Tul · Answer 7 · 2019-02-11T10:30:20.673

For Swift 3 following way worked out for me using TTTAttributedLabel:

1) Add a label on the storyboard and define its class to be TTTAttributedLabel

2) In code define @IBOutlet var termsLabel: TTTAttributedLabel!

3) Then in ViewDidLoad write these lines

termsLabel.attributedText = NSAttributedString(string: "By using this app you agree to the Privacy Policy & Terms & Conditions.")
guard let labelString = termsLabel.attributedText else {
            return
        }
        guard let privacyRange = labelString.string.range(of: "Privacy Policy") else {
            return
        }
        guard let termsConditionRange = labelString.string.range(of: "Terms & Conditions") else {
            return
        }

        let privacyNSRange: NSRange = labelString.string.nsRange(from: privacyRange)
        let termsNSRange: NSRange = labelString.string.nsRange(from: termsConditionRange)

        termsLabel.addLink(to: URL(string: "privacy"), with: privacyNSRange)
        termsLabel.addLink(to: URL(string: "terms"), with: termsNSRange)

        termsLabel.delegate = self
        let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: termsLabel.attributedText!)
        attributedText.addAttributes([NSFontAttributeName : UIFont(name: "Roboto-Medium", size: 12)!], range: termsNSRange)
        attributedText.addAttributes([NSFontAttributeName : UIFont(name: "Roboto-Medium", size: 12)!], range: privacyNSRange)
        attributedText.addAttributes([kCTForegroundColorAttributeName as String: UIColor.orange], range: termsNSRange)
        attributedText.addAttributes([kCTForegroundColorAttributeName as String: UIColor.green], range: privacyNSRange)
        attributedText.addAttributes([NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: NSUnderlineStyle.styleNone.rawValue], range: termsNSRange)
        attributedText.addAttributes([NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: NSUnderlineStyle.styleNone.rawValue], range: privacyNSRange)
        termsLabel.attributedText = attributedText

It would look like this

4) Finally write the delegate function of TTTAttributedLabel so that you can open links on tap

public func attributedLabel(_ label: TTTAttributedLabel!, didSelectLinkWith url: URL!) {
    switch url.absoluteString  {
    case "privacy":
        SafariBrowser.open("http://google.com", presentingViewController: self)
    case "terms":
        SafariBrowser.open("http://google.com", presentingViewController: self)
    default:
        break
    }
}

Update for Swift 4.2

For Swift 4.2, there are some changes in step 3, all other steps would remain same as above:

3) In ViewDidLoad write these lines

termsLabel.attributedText = NSAttributedString(string: "By using this app you agree to the Privacy Policy & Terms & Conditions.")
guard let labelString = termsLabel.attributedText else {
            return
        }
        guard let privacyRange = labelString.string.range(of: "Privacy Policy") else {
            return
        }
        guard let termsConditionRange = labelString.string.range(of: "Terms & Conditions") else {
            return
        }

        let privacyNSRange: NSRange = labelString.string.nsRange(from: privacyRange)
        let termsNSRange: NSRange = labelString.string.nsRange(from: termsConditionRange)

        termsLabel.addLink(to: URL(string: "privacy"), with: privacyNSRange)
        termsLabel.addLink(to: URL(string: "terms"), with: termsNSRange)

        termsLabel.delegate = self
        let attributedText = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: termsLabel.attributedText!)
        attributedText.addAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.font : UIFont(name: "Roboto-Regular", size: 12)!], range: termsNSRange)
        attributedText.addAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.font : UIFont(name: "Roboto-Regular", size: 12)!], range: privacyNSRange)
        attributedText.addAttributes([kCTForegroundColorAttributeName as NSAttributedString.Key : UIColor.orange], range: termsNSRange)
        attributedText.addAttributes([kCTForegroundColorAttributeName as NSAttributedString.Key : UIColor.green], range: privacyNSRange)
    attributedText.addAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle: 0], range: termsNSRange)
        attributedText.addAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.underlineStyle: 0], range: privacyNSRange)

do you have swift 4.0 solution?I am not getting multiple color in link. — guru, Feb 09 '19 at 13:24

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 23 '16 at 11:38

Swift 3 example for TTTAttributedLabel:

yourLabel.linkAttributes = [
    NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.green,  
    NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: NSNumber(value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleNone.rawValue)
]
yourLabel.activeLinkAttributes = [
    NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.green,  
    NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName: NSNumber(value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleDouble.rawValue)
]

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 08 '17 at 17:21

For Swift 3 using TTTAttributedLabel

let title: NSString = "Fork me on GitHub!"

var attirutedDictionary = NSMutableDictionary(dictionary:attributedLabel.linkAttributes)

attirutedDictionary[NSForegroundColorAttributeName] = UIColor.red
attirutedDictionary[NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName] =  NSNumber(value: NSUnderlineStyle.styleNone.rawValue)

attributedLabel.attributedText = NSAttributedString(string: title as String)
attributedLabel.linkAttributes = attirutedDictionary as! [AnyHashable: Any]

let range = subtitleTitle.range(of: "me")
let url = URL(string: "http://github.com/mattt/")

attributedLabel.addLink(to: url, with: range)

score -1 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 19 '19 at 09:49

-1

Swift 4.0 :

Short and simple

 let LinkAttributes = NSMutableDictionary(dictionary: testLink.linkAttributes)
 LinkAttributes[NSAttributedStringKey.underlineStyle] =  NSNumber(value: false)
 LinkAttributes[NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor] = UIColor.black // Whatever your label color
 testLink.linkAttributes = LinkAttributes as NSDictionary as! [AnyHashable: Any]

answered Jan 19 '19 at 09:49

guru

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UILabel does not have linkAttributes – Softlion May 24 '19 at 06:25

Alexander Volkov · Answer 11 · 2019-03-05T16:13:06.557

It's better to use UITextView with "Link" feature enabled. In this case you can do it with one line:

Swift 4:

// apply link attributes to label.attributedString, then
textView.tintColor = UIColor.red // any color you want

Full example:

    let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "Here is my link")
    let range = NSRange(location: 7, length:4)
    attributedString.addAttribute(.link, value: "http://google.com", range: range)
    attributedString.addAttribute(.underlineStyle, value: 1, range: range)
    attributedString.addAttribute(.underlineColor, value: UIColor.red, range: range)
    textView.tintColor = UIColor.red // any color you want

Or you can apply attributes to links only:

  textView.linkTextAttributes = [
      .foregroundColor: UIColor.red
      .underlineStyle: 1,
      .underlineColor: UIColor.red
   ]

This doesn't work, the link color is exactly the same. What are you using this on? — Allison, Aug 20 '18 at 01:16
@Sirens Sorry. Actually, I used it for textView. I edited the answer above. — Alexander Volkov, Mar 05 '19 at 16:13

Make link in UILabel.attributedText not blue and not underlined

11 Answers11

Linked

Make link in UILabel.attributedText *not* blue and *not* underlined

11 Answers11

Linked

Make link in UILabel.attributedText not blue and not underlined