Cannot set underline for UILabel

Question

I have a UILabel which have text: "Something here and privacy policy", I just want to create underline for the text privacy policy but the code not affect. If I create underline for full text of my label then it worked, but it's not what I want.Here is my code:

     NSString *str = self.myLabel.text;
        NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:str];
        NSRange index = [str rangeOfString:@"privacy policy"];
        if (index.location != NSNotFound){
            [attributedString addAttribute:NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName value:[NSNumber numberWithInt:NSUnderlineStyleSingle] range:NSMakeRange(index.location, index.length)];
          //if I change index.location by 0 then it worked, 
          //with the underline start at the begin text of mylabel but that not what I expected
            [self.myLabel setAttributedText:attributedString];
         }

Is have something wrong with my code(my app support for iOS 7 and latter)?

There is a known bug in iOS 8 that prevents the underline from appearing in a `UILabel` unless you start from the 1st character. Create a simple test case and submit a bug to Apple. The more people that complain, the better chance Apple will fix it. — rmaddy, Dec 21 '14 at 04:00
Thanks for your info, but I don't know how to submit bugs to Apple. — lee, Dec 21 '14 at 04:10
Could you use a custom font which is underlined? Not an ideal answer but it could work if all else fails — sam_smith, Dec 21 '14 at 20:08

Arun Gupta · Answer 1 · 2014-12-21T07:13:16.283

To temporarily fix your issue, you can split your String into 2 NSMutableAttributedString with latter string having text "privacy policy". You can then underline the whole text and concatenate the two strings.

NSString *str = self.myLabel.text;
    NSRange index = [str rangeOfString:@"privacy policy"];
    if (index.location != NSNotFound){
        NSString *tempString = [str substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, index.location - 1)];
        NSAttributedString *attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:tempString];

        NSString *privacyString=[str substringFromIndex:index.location];
        NSAttributedString *attributedString1 = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:privacyString];
        [attributedString1 addAttribute:NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName value:[NSNumber numberWithInt:NSUnderlineStyleSingle] range:NSMakeRange(0, attributedString1.length)];
      //with the underline start at the begin text of mylabel but that not what I expected
        NSMutableAttributedString *mutableAttString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] init];
        [mutableAttString appendAttributedString: attributedString];
        [mutableAttString appendAttributedString:attributedString1];
        [self.myLabel setAttributedText:mutableAttString];
     }

How does this fix the issue? The bug is with `UILabel`. It won't show any underline unless the first character is underlined. — rmaddy, Dec 21 '14 at 07:39
Then you need to take 2 UILabel with 2nd UILabel containing the text "Privacy Policy". — Arun Gupta, Dec 21 '14 at 08:03

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 21 '14 at 07:12

0

Please try this piece of code.

UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(100, 100, 250, 40)];
label.font=[UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:12];
label.textColor=[UIColor blackColor];

NSString *text = @"Something and Privacy Policy";
NSMutableAttributedString *attrString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc ]initWithString:text];

NSInteger location = [@"Something and " length]-1;
NSInteger length = [@"Privacy Policy" length];
[attrString addAttribute:NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName value:@(NSUnderlineStyleSingle) range:NSMakeRange(location, length)];
label.attributedText=attrString;

[self.view addSubview:label];

answered Dec 21 '14 at 07:12

Ruchira Randana

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Did you try this code? Does it work for you? – rmaddy Dec 21 '14 at 07:40
Yes Maddy. I just wrote a quick code segment :) – Ruchira Randana Dec 21 '14 at 07:48
also tried with your code, but it doesn't worked. As @rmaddy said, it's a bug on iOS 8. my code can work on iOS 7 but doesn't work on iOS8. – lee Dec 21 '14 at 08:29
Hi Lee. I tested this on iOS 7. It should work for iOS 6 as well. Apparently, I don't have an iOS 8 device to test this. – Ruchira Randana Dec 21 '14 at 19:27

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 21 '14 at 09:56

The best way I've found to underline a portion of a text is to use Interface Builder (Designer first, coder second). Granted this might not be what you want but for a temporary solution I propose the following:

Instructions
1) Place a UILabel in your viewController of choice and add constraints as needed.
2) Click on your label, replace the text and go to Attributes Inspector. (Image 1)
3) Change your UILabel from 'Plain Text' to 'Attributed'
4) Highlight the portion you want underlined as shown in Image 2 below and press the 'T' in a square.
5) On the toolbar of the window that shows up, you'll see an underlined 'T'. Select 'single' (Image 3).

Images

Cannot set underline for UILabel

3 Answers3