Set Uilabel Line Spacing

How to control the line spacing in UILabel

I thought about adding something new to this answer, so I don't feel as bad... Here is a Swift answer:

import Cocoa

let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = 40

let attrString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "Swift Answer")
attrString.addAttribute(.paragraphStyle, value:paragraphStyle, range:NSMakeRange(0, attrString.length))

var tableViewCell = NSTableCellView()
tableViewCell.textField.attributedStringValue = attrString

~~"Short answer: you can't. To change the spacing between lines of text, you will have to subclass UILabel and roll your own drawTextInRect, or create multiple labels."~~

~~See: Set UILabel line spacing~~

~~This is a really old answer, and other have already addded the new and better way to handle this.. Please see the up to date answers provided below.~~

How to Increase Line spacing in UILabel in Swift 4

In Swift 4 in this case you have to use NSAttributedStringKey.paragraphStyle instead of NSParagraphStyleAttributeName

How to Increase Line spacing in UILabel in Swift

Programatically add LineSpacing to your UILabel using following snippet.

Earlier Swift version

let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "Your text")

// *** Create instance of `NSMutableParagraphStyle`
let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()

// *** set LineSpacing property in points ***
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = 2 // Whatever line spacing you want in points

// *** Apply attribute to string ***
attributedString.addAttribute(NSParagraphStyleAttributeName, value:paragraphStyle, range:NSMakeRange(0, attributedString.length))

// *** Set Attributed String to your label ***
label.attributedText = attributedString

Swift 4.0

let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "Your text")

// *** Create instance of `NSMutableParagraphStyle`
let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()

// *** set LineSpacing property in points ***
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = 2 // Whatever line spacing you want in points

// *** Apply attribute to string ***
attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.paragraphStyle, value:paragraphStyle, range:NSMakeRange(0, attributedString.length))

// *** Set Attributed String to your label ***
label.attributedText = attributedString

Swift 4.2

let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "Your text")

// *** Create instance of `NSMutableParagraphStyle`
let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()

// *** set LineSpacing property in points ***
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = 2 // Whatever line spacing you want in points

// *** Apply attribute to string ***
attributedString.addAttribute(NSAttributedString.Key.paragraphStyle, value:paragraphStyle, range:NSMakeRange(0, attributedString.length))

// *** Set Attributed String to your label ***
label.attributedText = attributedString

Set UILabel line spacing

Edit: Evidently NSAttributedString will do it, on iOS 6 and later. Instead of using an NSString to set the label's text, create an NSAttributedString, set attributes on it, then set it as the .attributedText on the label. The code you want will be something like this:

NSMutableAttributedString* attrString = [[NSMutableAttributedString  alloc] initWithString:@"Sample text"];
NSMutableParagraphStyle *style = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
[style setLineSpacing:24];
[attrString addAttribute:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName
    value:style
    range:NSMakeRange(0, strLength)];
uiLabel.attributedText = attrString;

NSAttributedString's old attributedStringWithString did the same thing, but now that is being deprecated.

For historical reasons, here's my original answer:

Short answer: you can't. To change the spacing between lines of text, you will have to subclass UILabel and roll your own drawTextInRect, create multiple labels, or use a different font (perhaps one edited for a specific line height, see Phillipe's answer).

Long answer: In the print and online world, the space between lines of text is known as "leading" (rhymes with 'heading', and comes from the lead metal used decades ago). Leading is a read-only property of UIFont, which was deprecated in 4.0 and replaced by lineHeight. As far as I know, there's no way to create a font with a specific set of parameters such as lineHeight; you get the system fonts and any custom font you add, but can't tweak them once installed.

There is no spacing parameter in UILabel, either.

I'm not particularly happy with UILabel's behavior as is, so I suggest writing your own subclass or using a 3rd-party library. That will make the behavior independent of your font choice and be the most reusable solution.

I wish there was more flexibility in UILabel, and I'd be happy to be proven wrong!

Objective C label line spacing?

The code you want will be something like this:

NSMutableAttributedString* attrString = [[NSMutableAttributedString  alloc] initWithString:@"Sample text"];
NSMutableParagraphStyle *style = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
[style setLineSpacing:24];
[attrString addAttribute:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName
    value:style
    range:NSMakeRange(0, strLength)];
uiLabel.attributedText = attrString;

Line Spacing for UILabel with a single line of text

Since you said you were using a custom font, my best guess based on prior experience is that the root cause of that issue that you seeing lies somewhere inside of the custom font itself. Whenever I am given a custom font by a client, 90% of the time, something is "wrong" with the actual font metrics (as interpreted by Apple's internal font rendering subsystem, even though it might render correctly somewhere else).

The good news is that this is fixable, but it requires rebuilding the font with new metrics, which is usually a trial/error affair. You might also need to check to see if the license you have for the font will allow such a thing (if it even matters).

That being said, these are some resources to questions that I keep around for this exact scenario whenever I start a new project:

Here's a similar question to yours with the assumption that this is a custom font issue: "Custom UIFont baseline shifted". This question deals with this issue in a UIButton "UIButton custom font vertical alignment", but both of these questions end up at the answer to this question "Custom installed font not displayed correctly in UILabel".

I have a personal testbed app for custom fonts now that I use whenever I am first given a custom font. This allows me to test the font in isolation for each rebuild iteration to make sure it's perfectly rendering. Make sure to test your changes in various font sizes and even in additional languages (yes, lots of permutations). I have had issues specifically with Thai and Chinese when using custom fonts as their ascenders extend very close to the edge of the bounding box for a UILabel. The testbed that I've created for myself includes the font rendered in basic UILabels in various sizes and various languages in various sizes (since like I said, I've had a bad experience in the past with custom fonts in certain languages that rendered fine in Roman characters).

If someone has a better solution to this, I'd love to hear it as I run into this issue with custom fonts almost every time. This is my workflow for nipping the issue in the bud before we start compensating for the font's rendering issues during layout or using individual attributed string adjustments. I'm not font expert, I'm just a guy who likes fonts to render like the built-in fonts (especially when using auto layout).