Figure out size of UILabel based on String in Swift

Use an extension on String

Swift 3

extension String {
    func height(withConstrainedWidth width: CGFloat, font: UIFont) -> CGFloat {
        let constraintRect = CGSize(width: width, height: .greatestFiniteMagnitude)
        let boundingBox = self.boundingRect(with: constraintRect, options: .usesLineFragmentOrigin, attributes: [NSFontAttributeName: font], context: nil)
    
        return ceil(boundingBox.height)
    }

    func width(withConstrainedHeight height: CGFloat, font: UIFont) -> CGFloat {
        let constraintRect = CGSize(width: .greatestFiniteMagnitude, height: height)
        let boundingBox = self.boundingRect(with: constraintRect, options: .usesLineFragmentOrigin, attributes: [NSFontAttributeName: font], context: nil)

        return ceil(boundingBox.width)
    }
}

and also on NSAttributedString (which is very useful at times)

extension NSAttributedString {
    func height(withConstrainedWidth width: CGFloat) -> CGFloat {
        let constraintRect = CGSize(width: width, height: .greatestFiniteMagnitude)
        let boundingBox = boundingRect(with: constraintRect, options: .usesLineFragmentOrigin, context: nil)
    
        return ceil(boundingBox.height)
    }

    func width(withConstrainedHeight height: CGFloat) -> CGFloat {
        let constraintRect = CGSize(width: .greatestFiniteMagnitude, height: height)
        let boundingBox = boundingRect(with: constraintRect, options: .usesLineFragmentOrigin, context: nil)
    
        return ceil(boundingBox.width)
    }
}

Swift 4 & 5

Just change the value for attributes in the extension String methods

from

[NSFontAttributeName: font]

to

[.font : font]

This is my answer in Swift 4.1 and Xcode 9.4.1

//This is your label
let proNameLbl = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 20, width: 300, height: height))
proNameLbl.text = "This is your text"
proNameLbl.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 17)
proNameLbl.numberOfLines = 0
proNameLbl.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
infoView.addSubview(proNameLbl)

//Function to calculate height for label based on text
func heightForView(text:String, font:UIFont, width:CGFloat) -> CGFloat {
    let label:UILabel = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: width, height: CGFloat.greatestFiniteMagnitude))
    label.numberOfLines = 0
    label.lineBreakMode = NSLineBreakMode.byWordWrapping
    label.font = font
    label.text = text

    label.sizeToFit()
    return label.frame.height
}

Now you call this function

//Call this function
let height = heightForView(text: "This is your text", font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 17), width: 300)
print(height)//Output : 41.0

For multiline text this answer is not working correctly. You can build a different String extension by using UILabel

extension String {
func height(constraintedWidth width: CGFloat, font: UIFont) -> CGFloat {
    let label =  UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: width, height: .greatestFiniteMagnitude))
    label.numberOfLines = 0
    label.text = self
    label.font = font
    label.sizeToFit()

    return label.frame.height
 }
}

The UILabel gets a fixed width and the .numberOfLines is set to 0. By adding the text and calling .sizeToFit() it automatically adjusts to the correct height.

Code is written in Swift 3 🔶🐦


Heres a simple solution thats working for me... similar to some of the others posted, but it doesn't need the sizeToFit

Note this is written in Swift 5

let lbl = UILabel()
lbl.numberOfLines = 0
lbl.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 12) // make sure you set this correctly 
lbl.text = "My text that may or may not wrap lines..."

let width = 100.0 // the width of the view you are constraint to, keep in mind any applied margins here
 
let height = lbl.systemLayoutSizeFitting(CGSize(width: width, height: UIView.layoutFittingCompressedSize.height), withHorizontalFittingPriority: .required, verticalFittingPriority: .fittingSizeLevel).height

This handles line wrapping and such. Not the most elegant code, but it gets the job done.