Making text bold using attributed string in swift

Question

I have a string like this

var str = "@text1 this is good @text1"

Now replace text1 with another string, say t 1. I am able to replace the text, but i am not able to bold it. I want to bold the new string t 1, so that the final output will be:

@t 1 this is good @t 1

How can I do it?

All the examples I am seeing are in Objective-C, but I want to do it in Swift.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Improving upon Prajeet Shrestha answer : -

You can make a generic extension for NSMutableAttributedString which involves less code. In this case I have chosen to use system font but you could adapt it so you can input the font name as a parameter.

    extension NSMutableAttributedString {

        func systemFontWith(text: String, size: CGFloat, weight: CGFloat) -> NSMutableAttributedString {
            let attributes: [String: AnyObject] = [NSFontAttributeName: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: size, weight: weight)]
            let string = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text, attributes: attributes)
            self.append(string)
            return self
        }
    }

Answer 2

Here is a neat way to make a combination of bold and normal texts in a single label.

Extension:

Swift 3.0

extension NSMutableAttributedString {
    @discardableResult func bold(_ text:String) -> NSMutableAttributedString {
        let attrs:[String:AnyObject] = [NSFontAttributeName: UIFont(name: "AvenirNext-Medium", size: 12)!]
        let boldString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text, attributes:attrs)
        self.append(boldString)
        return self
    }

    @discardableResult func normal(_ text:String)->NSMutableAttributedString {
        let normal =  NSAttributedString(string: text)
        self.append(normal)
        return self
    }
}

Swift 4

extension NSMutableAttributedString {
    @discardableResult func bold(_ text: String) -> NSMutableAttributedString {
        let attrs: [NSAttributedStringKey: Any] = [.font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNext-Medium", size: 12)!]
        let boldString = NSMutableAttributedString(string:text, attributes: attrs)
        append(boldString)

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult func normal(_ text: String) -> NSMutableAttributedString {
        let normal = NSAttributedString(string: text)
        append(normal)

        return self
    }
}

Usage:

let formattedString = NSMutableAttributedString()
formattedString
    .bold("Bold Text")
    .normal(" Normal Text ")
    .bold("Bold Text")

let lbl = UILabel()
lbl.attributedText = formattedString

---

Result:

Bold Text Normal Text Bold Text

Answer 3

Accepting as valid the response of Prajeet Shrestha in this thread, I would like to extend his solution using the Label if it is known and the traits of the font.

Swift 4

extension NSMutableAttributedString {

    @discardableResult func normal(_ text: String) -> NSMutableAttributedString {
        let normal = NSAttributedString(string: text)
        append(normal)

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult func bold(_ text: String, withLabel label: UILabel) -> NSMutableAttributedString {

        //generate the bold font
        var font: UIFont = UIFont(name: label.font.fontName , size: label.font.pointSize)!
        font = UIFont(descriptor: font.fontDescriptor.withSymbolicTraits(.traitBold) ?? font.fontDescriptor, size: font.pointSize)

        //generate attributes
        let attrs: [NSAttributedStringKey: Any] = [NSAttributedStringKey.font: font]
        let boldString = NSMutableAttributedString(string:text, attributes: attrs)

        //append the attributed text
        append(boldString)

        return self
    }
}

Answer 4

This is the best way that I have come up with. Add a function you can call from anywhere and add it to a file without a class like Constants.swift and then you can embolden words within any string, on numerous occasions by calling just ONE LINE of code:

To go in a constants.swift file:

import Foundation
import UIKit

func addBoldText(fullString: NSString, boldPartOfString: NSString, font: UIFont!, boldFont: UIFont!) -> NSAttributedString {
   let nonBoldFontAttribute = [NSFontAttributeName:font!]
   let boldFontAttribute = [NSFontAttributeName:boldFont!]
   let boldString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: fullString as String, attributes:nonBoldFontAttribute)
   boldString.addAttributes(boldFontAttribute, range: fullString.rangeOfString(boldPartOfString as String))
   return boldString
}

Then you can just call this one line of code for any UILabel:

self.UILabel.attributedText = addBoldText("Check again in 30 DAYS to find more friends", boldPartOfString: "30 DAYS", font: normalFont!, boldFont: boldSearchFont!)


//Mark: Albeit that you've had to define these somewhere:

let normalFont = UIFont(name: "INSERT FONT NAME", size: 15)
let boldFont = UIFont(name: "INSERT BOLD FONT", size: 15)

Answer 5

Building on Jeremy Bader and David West's excellent answers, a Swift 3 extension:

extension String {
    func withBoldText(boldPartsOfString: Array<NSString>, font: UIFont!, boldFont: UIFont!) -> NSAttributedString {
        let nonBoldFontAttribute = [NSFontAttributeName:font!]
        let boldFontAttribute = [NSFontAttributeName:boldFont!]
        let boldString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: self as String, attributes:nonBoldFontAttribute)
        for i in 0 ..< boldPartsOfString.count {
            boldString.addAttributes(boldFontAttribute, range: (self as NSString).range(of: boldPartsOfString[i] as String))
        }
        return boldString
    }
}

Usage:

let label = UILabel()
let font = UIFont(name: "AvenirNext-Italic", size: 24)!
let boldFont = UIFont(name: "AvenirNext-BoldItalic", size: 24)!
label.attributedText = "Make sure your face is\nbrightly and evenly lit".withBoldText(
    boldPartsOfString: ["brightly", "evenly"], font: font, boldFont: boldFont)

Answer 6

This could be useful

class func createAttributedStringFrom (string1 : String ,strin2 : String, attributes1 : Dictionary<String, NSObject>, attributes2 : Dictionary<String, NSObject>) -> NSAttributedString{

let fullStringNormal = (string1 + strin2) as NSString
let attributedFullString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: fullStringNormal as String)

attributedFullString.addAttributes(attributes1, range: fullStringNormal.rangeOfString(string1))
attributedFullString.addAttributes(attributes2, range: fullStringNormal.rangeOfString(strin2))
return attributedFullString
}