Change a UIButton's text (padding) programmatically in Swift

Question

Still learning Swift and don't know Objective-C. I saw that in order to changing a button's text programmatically requires the use of titleEdgeInsets but I am not really sure how to use it.

I would like to change the text in the button (padding) in the bottom and both the left and the right.

Thanks for any responses and/or examples!

score 172 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 11 '19 at 08:31

172

Still valid for: iOS 12/Xcode 10/Swift 4.2/OSX 10.13.2

iOS 9.1/Xcode 7.1/Swift 2.1/OSX 10.10.5:

The method titleEdgeInsets didn't work for me. My button's frame tightly hugs the text (I didn't specify a frame size), and the frame has a red background color. After doing:

 myButton.titleEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsetsMake(10,10,10,10)

the red background shrunk inwards by 10 pixels on each side, which meant that now some of the text was outside the red background. Using negative values had no effect on the original frame size.

I was able to get padding around the text, effectively making the frame bigger, by doing:

myButton.contentEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsetsMake(5,5,5,5)

edited Aug 11 '19 at 08:31

answered Jan 09 '16 at 14:54

7stud

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@Nik Kov, Thanks. – 7stud Oct 25 '18 at 21:47
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new method is called: UIEdgeInsets.init(top: #, left:#, :bottom: #, right: #) – Andrey Solera Jun 12 '19 at 17:51
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@Andrea, UIEdgeInsetsMake() is still in the docs: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/1624475-uiedgeinsetsmake?language=occ – 7stud Jun 12 '19 at 20:21
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@Andrea, Do you get a warning if you call `UIEdgeInsetsMake(5,5,5,5)` ? – 7stud Jun 13 '19 at 19:19
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`titleEdgeInsets` is deprecated in iOS 15 :( – Raildex Nov 15 '21 at 09:17

score 64 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 18 '18 at 04:44

64

iOS 10 and Swift 3 example

Tested and works on IOS 11 and Swift 4.

refineButton.contentEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 5, left: 0, bottom: 0, right: 0)

edited Jan 18 '18 at 04:44

Ahmed Eid

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answered Dec 20 '16 at 15:04

Dev2rights

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If the text is truncating, while use of `titleEdgeInsets`, replace it to `contentEdgeInsets`. – Nike Kov Oct 24 '18 at 21:59
Note, `contentEdgeInsets` is deprecated in iOS 15 – dwu39 Aug 01 '23 at 04:41

score 32 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 21 '16 at 22:29

32

You can add padding from top, left, right and bottom by doing these lines of code.

button.titleEdgeInsets.left = 10; // add left padding.
button.titleEdgeInsets.right = 10; // add right padding.
button.titleEdgeInsets.top = 10; // add top padding.
button.titleEdgeInsets.bottom = 10; // add bottom padding.

edited Mar 21 '16 at 22:29

Ahmad Baracat

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answered Sep 23 '15 at 13:49

Ali Raza

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score 27 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 22 '17 at 10:37

27

You can also do this in the storyboard:

answered Nov 22 '17 at 10:37

Nike Kov

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The question specified "programmatically" – Ahmed Eid Jan 19 '18 at 08:07
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I don't pretend to a best answer. Just for fullness of information. – Nike Kov Jan 19 '18 at 08:19
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It was useful, @aeid sometimes I search "programmatically" because I couldn't find it in the storyboard – andrewtweber Apr 09 '18 at 22:45
I didn't search for programmatically or storyboard, because I don't care either way. Glad to know it's there – froggomad Jul 09 '19 at 15:06

score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 24 '16 at 17:39

6

For iOS 9.1/Xcode 7.1/Swift 2.1

@IBOutlet weak var ratingButton: UIButton!

override func viewDidLoad() {
    ratingButton.contentEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top:15,right:10,bottom:15,left:10)

    super.viewDidLoad()
}

answered Apr 24 '16 at 17:39

Hannes

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 02 '23 at 08:34

With iOS 15 contentEdgeInsets is deprecated so you need to use the following...

var configuration = UIButton.Configuration.plain() // there are several options to choose from instead of .plain()
configuration.contentInsets = NSDirectionalEdgeInsets(top: 24, leading: 24, bottom: 24, trailing: 24)
button.configuration = configuration

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 27 '19 at 09:06

Or you can use a custom class if you don't want to define the properties everytime you create a button;

class UIPaddedButton: UIButton {
  let padding = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 10, bottom: 0, right: 10)

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

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

  override func titleRect(forContentRect contentRect: CGRect) -> CGRect {
    return contentRect.inset(by: padding)
  }
}

And when initializing;

let btn = UIPaddedButton()

this is **not really correct.** adjusting the titleRect is quite difficult. you have to follow a procedure similar to this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/58876988/294884 — Fattie, Apr 17 '20 at 13:29

score -2 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 10 '22 at 05:28

-2

For xcode 13.4 and iOS 12 Tested and working To make space to both sides of a button

ButtonName.contentEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 20, bottom: 0, right: 20)

answered Aug 10 '22 at 05:28

JESTIN SAJI

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unfortunately completely wrong, deprecated away :/ – Fattie Dec 15 '22 at 15:58

Change a UIButton's text (padding) programmatically in Swift

8 Answers8