Replace substring of NSAttributedString with another NSAttributedString

Question

I want to replace a substring (e.g. @"replace") of an NSAttributedString with another NSAttributedString.

I am looking for an equivalent method to NSString's stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:withString: for NSAttributedString.

Answer 1

1. Convert your attributed string into an instance of NSMutableAttributedString.

2. The mutable attributed string has a mutableString property. According to the documentation:

   "The receiver tracks changes to this string and keeps its attribute mappings up to date."

   So you can use the resulting mutable string to execute the replacement with replaceOccurrencesOfString:withString:options:range:.

Answer 2

Here is how you can change the string of NSMutableAttributedString, while preserving its attributes:

Swift:

// first we create a mutable copy of attributed text 
let originalAttributedText = nameLabel.attributedText?.mutableCopy() as! NSMutableAttributedString

// then we replace text so easily
let newAttributedText = originalAttributedText.mutableString.setString("new text to replace")

Objective-C:

NSMutableAttributedString *newAttrStr = [attribtedTxt.mutableString setString:@"new string"];