How to create UILabel programmatically using Swift?

Question

How do I create a UILabel programmatically using Swift in Xcode 6?

I have started with a new "Single View Application" in Xcode 6 and selected Swift for this project. I have my files AppDelegate.swift and ViewController.swift and I'm not sure what to do from here.

Answer 1

override func viewDidLoad()
{
  super.viewDidLoad()
  var label = UILabel(frame: CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 21))
  label.center = CGPointMake(160, 284)
  label.textAlignment = NSTextAlignment.Center
  label.text = "I'm a test label"
  self.view.addSubview(label)
}  

Swift 3.0+ Update:

let label = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 200, height: 21))
label.center = CGPoint(x: 160, y: 285)
label.textAlignment = .center
label.text = "I'm a test label"
self.view.addSubview(label)

Answer 2

Here is the correct code for Swift 3, with comments for instructional purposes:

override func viewDidLoad()
{
    super.viewDidLoad()

    // CGRectMake has been deprecated - and should be let, not var
    let label = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 200, height: 21))

    // you will probably want to set the font (remember to use Dynamic Type!)
    label.font = UIFont.preferredFont(forTextStyle: .footnote)

    // and set the text color too - remember good contrast
    label.textColor = .black

    // may not be necessary (e.g., if the width & height match the superview)
    // if you do need to center, CGPointMake has been deprecated, so use this
    label.center = CGPoint(x: 160, y: 284)

    // this changed in Swift 3 (much better, no?)
    label.textAlignment = .center

    label.text = "I am a test label"

    self.view.addSubview(label)
}

Answer 3

Just to add onto the already great answers, you might want to add multiple labels in your project so doing all of this (setting size, style etc) will be a pain. To solve this, you can create a separate UILabel class.

  import UIKit

  class MyLabel: UILabel {

    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
        initializeLabel()
    }

    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        initializeLabel()
    }

    func initializeLabel() {

        self.textAlignment = .left
        self.font = UIFont(name: "Halvetica", size: 17)
        self.textColor = UIColor.white

    }

}

To use it, do the following

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {

     var myLabel: MyLabel()

     override func viewDidLoad() {
          super.viewDidLoad()

          myLabel = MyLabel(frame: CGRect(x: self.view.frame.size.width / 2, y: self.view.frame.size.height / 2, width: 100, height: 20))
          self.view.addSubView(myLabel)
     }


}

Answer 4

Swift 4.X and Xcode 10

let lbl = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 10, y: 50, width: 230, height: 21))
lbl.textAlignment = .center //For center alignment
lbl.text = "This is my label fdsjhfg sjdg dfgdfgdfjgdjfhg jdfjgdfgdf end..."
lbl.textColor = .white
lbl.backgroundColor = .lightGray//If required
lbl.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 17)

//To display multiple lines in label
lbl.numberOfLines = 0 //If you want to display only 2 lines replace 0(Zero) with 2.
lbl.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping //Word Wrap
// OR
lbl.lineBreakMode = .byCharWrapping //Charactor Wrap

lbl.sizeToFit()//If required
yourView.addSubview(lbl)

If you have multiple labels in your class use extension to add properties.

//Label 1
let lbl1 = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 10, y: 50, width: 230, height: 21))
lbl1.text = "This is my label fdsjhfg sjdg dfgdfgdfjgdjfhg jdfjgdfgdf end..."
lbl1.myLabel()//Call this function from extension to all your labels
view.addSubview(lbl1)

//Label 2
let lbl2 = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 10, y: 150, width: 230, height: 21))
lbl2.text = "This is my label fdsjhfg sjdg dfgdfgdfjgdjfhg jdfjgdfgdf end..."
lbl2.myLabel()//Call this function from extension to all your labels
view.addSubview(lbl2)

extension UILabel {
    func myLabel() {
        textAlignment = .center
        textColor = .white
        backgroundColor = .lightGray
        font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 17)
        numberOfLines = 0
        lineBreakMode = .byCharWrapping
        sizeToFit()
    }
}

Answer 5

You can create a label using the code below. Updated.

let yourLabel: UILabel = UILabel()
yourLabel.frame = CGRect(x: 50, y: 150, width: 200, height: 21)
yourLabel.backgroundColor = UIColor.orange
yourLabel.textColor = UIColor.black
yourLabel.textAlignment = NSTextAlignment.center
yourLabel.text = "test label"
self.view.addSubview(yourLabel)

Answer 6

Create UILabel view outside viewDidLoad class and then add that view to your main view in viewDidLoad method.

lazy var myLabel: UILabel = {


    let label = UILabel()
    label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    label.text = "This is label view."
    label.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 12)
    return label
}()

And then add that view in viewDidLoad()

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    view.addSubview(myLabel)

    // Set its constraint to display it on screen
    myLabel.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant:  200).isActive = true
    myLabel.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.centerXAnchor).isActive = true
    myLabel.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.centerYAnchor).isActive = true
}

Answer 7

Another code swift3

let myLabel = UILabel()
    myLabel.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 100, height: 100)
    myLabel.center = CGPoint(x: 0, y: 0)
    myLabel.textAlignment = .center
    myLabel.text = "myLabel!!!!!"
    self.view.addSubview(myLabel)

Answer 8

An alternative using a closure to separate out the code into something a bit neater using Swift 4:

class theViewController: UIViewController {

    /** Create the UILabel */
    var theLabel: UILabel = {
        let label = UILabel()
        label.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
        label.textColor = UIColor.white
        label.textAlignment = .left
        label.numberOfLines = 3
        label.font = UIFont(name: "Helvetica-Bold", size: 22)
        return label
    }()

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        /** Add theLabel to the ViewControllers view */
        view.addSubview(theLabel)
    }

    override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
        /* Set the frame when the layout is changed */
        theLabel.frame = CGRect(x: 0,
                                y: 0,
                                width: view.frame.width - 30,
                                height: 24)
    }
}

As a note, attributes for theLabel can still be changed whenever using functions in the VC. You're just setting various defaults inside the closure and minimizing clutter in functions like viewDidLoad()

Answer 9

Create label in swift 4

 let label = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: self.view.frame.origin.x, y: self.view.frame.origin.y, width: self.view.frame.size.width, height: 50))
    label.textAlignment = .center
    label.text = "Hello this my label"

    //To set the color
    label.backgroundColor = UIColor.white
    label.textColor = UIColor.black

    //To set the font Dynamic
    label.font = UIFont(name: "Helvetica-Regular", size: 20.0)

    //To set the system font
    label.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 20.0)

    //To display multiple lines
    label.numberOfLines = 0
    label.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping //Wrap the word of label
    label.lineBreakMode = .byCharWrapping //Wrap the charactor of label

    label.sizeToFit()
    self.view.addSubview(label)

Answer 10

Swift 4.2 and Xcode 10. Somewhere in ViewController:

private lazy var debugInfoLabel: UILabel = {
    let label = UILabel()
    label.textColor = .white
    label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    yourView.addSubview(label)
    NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
        label.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: suggestionView.centerXAnchor),
        label.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: suggestionView.centerYAnchor, constant: -100),
        label.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 120),
        label.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 50)])
    return label
}()

...

Using:

debugInfoLabel.text = debugInfo

Answer 11

let label = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 200, height: 21))
label.center = CGPoint(x: 160, y: 285)
label.textAlignment = .center
label.text = "My label"
self.view.addSubview(label)

Try above code in ViewDidLoad

Answer 12

Swift 4.2 and Xcode 10 Initialize label before viewDidLoad.

lazy var topLeftLabel: UILabel = {
    let label = UILabel()
    label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
    label.text = "TopLeft"
    return label
}()

In viewDidLoad add label to the view and apply constraints.

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    view.addSubview(topLeftLabel)
    topLeftLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
    topLeftLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.safeAreaLayoutGuide.topAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
}

Answer 13

Code for swift 3/4/5

Paste below line above override func viewDidLoad()

 var noDataLbl: UILabel?

Paste this code below super.viewDidLoad()

    noDataLbl = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: self.view.center.y, width: 290, height: 70))
    noDataLbl?.textAlignment = .center
    noDataLbl?.font = UIFont(name: "Halvetica", size: 18.0)
    noDataLbl?.numberOfLines = 0
    noDataLbl?.text = "Replace this with your text."
    noDataLbl?.lineBreakMode = .byTruncatingTail
    view.addSubview(noDataLbl!)
    noDataLbl?.isHidden = false
    noDataLbl?.center = self.view.center