How to set kerning in iPhone UILabel

Question

I am developing an iPhone app, and I want to set kerning in UILabel. The code I\'ve written (possibly around kCTKernAttributeName) seems to be in error. How mig

Answer 1

Old question, but you can do it now (easily).

NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString;
attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@"Please get wider"];
[attributedString addAttribute:NSKernAttributeName value:@5 range:NSMakeRange(10, 5)];
[self.label setAttributedText:attributedString];

For Nov 2013, Just to expand on this great answer, here's some totally typical code. Usually you'd set the font as well. Note in the comments the old-fashioned way using ordinary old .text. Hope it helps someone

NSString *yourText = @"whatever";

UILabel* label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,0,0)];

// simple approach with no tracking...
// label.text = yourText;
// [label setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Light" size:24]];

NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString;

attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:yourText];

[attributedString addAttribute:NSKernAttributeName
                         value:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:2.0]
                         range:NSMakeRange(0, [yourText length])];

[attributedString addAttribute:NSFontAttributeName
                         value:[UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Light" size:24]
                         range:NSMakeRange(0, [yourText length])];

label.attributedText = attributedString;

label.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
label.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentCenter;

[label sizeToFit];