How to calculate UILabel width based on text length?

Question

CGSize expectedLabelSize = [yourString sizeWithFont:yourLabel.font 
                        constrainedToSize:maximumLabelSize 
                        lineBreakMode:yourLabel.lineBreakMode]; 

What is -[NSString sizeWithFont:forWidth:lineBreakMode:] good for?

this question might have your answer, it worked for me.

---

For 2014, I edited in this new version, based on the ultra-handy comment by Norbert below! This does everything. Cheers

// yourLabel is your UILabel.

float widthIs = 
 [self.yourLabel.text
  boundingRectWithSize:self.yourLabel.frame.size                                           
  options:NSStringDrawingUsesLineFragmentOrigin
  attributes:@{ NSFontAttributeName:self.yourLabel.font }
  context:nil]
   .size.width;

NSLog(@"the width of yourLabel is %f", widthIs);

yourLabel.intrinsicContentSize.width for Objective-C / Swift

In swift

 yourLabel.intrinsicContentSize().width 

The selected answer is correct for iOS 6 and below.

In iOS 7, sizeWithFont:constrainedToSize:lineBreakMode: has been deprecated. It is now recommended you use boundingRectWithSize:options:attributes:context:.

CGRect expectedLabelSize = [yourString boundingRectWithSize:sizeOfRect
                                                    options:<NSStringDrawingOptions>
                                                 attributes:@{
                                                    NSFontAttributeName: yourString.font
                                                    AnyOtherAttributes: valuesForAttributes
                                                 }
                                                    context:(NSStringDrawingContext *)];

Note that the return value is a CGRect not a CGSize. Hopefully that'll be of some assistance to people using it in iOS 7.

Swift 4 Answer who are using Constraint

label.text = "Hello World"

var rect: CGRect = label.frame //get frame of label
rect.size = (label.text?.size(attributes: [NSFontAttributeName: UIFont(name: label.font.fontName , size: label.font.pointSize)!]))! //Calculate as per label font
labelWidth.constant = rect.width // set width to Constraint outlet

Swift 5 Answer who are using Constraint

label.text = "Hello World"

var rect: CGRect = label.frame //get frame of label
rect.size = (label.text?.size(withAttributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.font: UIFont(name: label.font.fontName , size: label.font.pointSize)!]))! //Calculate as per label font
labelWidth.constant = rect.width // set width to Constraint outlet

In iOS8 sizeWithFont has been deprecated, please refer to

CGSize yourLabelSize = [yourLabel.text sizeWithAttributes:@{NSFontAttributeName : [UIFont fontWithName:yourLabel.font size:yourLabel.fontSize]}];

You can add all the attributes you want in sizeWithAttributes. Other attributes you can set:

- NSForegroundColorAttributeName
- NSParagraphStyleAttributeName
- NSBackgroundColorAttributeName
- NSShadowAttributeName

and so on. But probably you won't need the others