Add "padding" to a UITextView

Question

as the title says i am trying to add padding-like behavior to a UITextView. The textview is generated when the view is pushed inside my navigation controller and the following code occurs:

 self.textView.layer.cornerRadius = 7; //pretty stuff is pretty NSString *description = appDelegate.productInDisplay.description; [self.textView setText:description]; //pretty stuff has content now CGRect frame = textView.frame; frame.size.height = textView.contentSize.height; textView.frame = frame; //set the UITextView to the size of it's containing text. self.textView.editable = NO; self.theScrollView.contentSize = CGSizeMake(320, 250 + textView.frame.size.height); //set the parent scrollView's height to fit some other elements with fixed size (250) //and the pre-mentioned UITextView

so, it all works and it's ok, but i want to add some padding on all 4 sides of the UITextView and i've been unable to do this with 3 hours of googling for something that seems rather easy. Any suggestions?

it's just .. uitextview.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(8,5,8,5); // top, left, bottom, right ... it's that simple — Fattie
– Fattie, Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 13:52
NOTE they REMOVED the "make" version :) it's simply now nothing more than textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 8, left: 0, bottom: 8, right: 32) — Fattie
– Fattie, Commented Apr 12, 2023 at 13:30

starball · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-24 02:47:33Z

108

Using Objective-C I have done it just with

[self.textView setTextContainerInset:UIEdgeInsetsMake(0, 12, 0, 12)];

For Swift you can use:

textview.contentInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 12, bottom: 0, right: 12)

You can also create a Swift Extension (Suggested by chowdhury-md-rajib-sarwar) here:

extension UITextView { func leftSpace() { self.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 4, left: 6, bottom: 4, right: 4) }

}

And then use

let textView = UITextView() textView.leftSpace()

edited Dec 24, 2022 at 2:47

starball♦

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answered Nov 29, 2013 at 20:15

Mário Carvalho

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7 Comments

Trevor Gehman Over a year ago

This worked for me in iOS 7. In fact, it's the only one of the suggested answers that worked.

GoGreen Over a year ago

Mário Carvalho any possible alternative for "setTextContainerInset" in iOS 6 ?

GoGreen Over a year ago

@Mário Carvalho the problem is, I need support for both iOS 6 and 7, so, that answer will not be feasible. I found this answer to be more meaningful but it still didn't solve my problem. I finally ended up using a container view for my UITextView. Thanks for the help though!

FredL Over a year ago

In Swift I used self.textView.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(50, 50, 50, 50);

Mário Carvalho Over a year ago

@KayanAlmeida yes! Check insets on storyboard options

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Fattie · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-12 13:51:28Z

This answer is totally wrong. Correct answer is simply:

uitextview.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(8,5,8,5); // top, left, bottom, right

(Those values generally match how a UITextField on the same screen looks.)

Use this one:

self.textView.contentInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(5, 5, 5, 5);

that puking textContainerInset doesn't work if you round textview's corners programmatically but that contetInset has no problem at all. Thanks !

adamfootdev · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-22 10:58:08Z

This is working in Swift 5:

textView.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 20, left: 20, bottom: 20, right: 20)

Jamon Holmgren · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-17 05:07:40Z

EDIT 1/16/2015: This was written in 2012 and is no longer accurate. Use -textContainerInset as mentioned above.

Original post:

Using contentInset won't actually work. You have two reasonable choices: subclass UITextField and override the textRectForBounds: and editingRectForBounds: methods or create your text field transparently over a UIView and style the UIView.

Example of subclassing the UITextField:

- (CGRect)textRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds { return CGRectInset(bounds, 5, 5); } - (CGRect)editingRectForBounds:(CGRect)bounds { return CGRectInset(bounds, 5, 5); }

Example of wrapping it in a UIView:

UIView *wrapView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame: CGRectMake(10, 10, 200, 30)]; [wrapView addSubview:textView]; wrapView.layer.borderColor = [UIColor darkGrayColor].CGColor; wrapView.layer.borderWidth = 2.0; wrapView.layer.cornerRadius = 5.0;

This should be the accepted answer – the current one doesn't actually work.
This is better than adding empty leftView. With leftView sometimes UITextField does not become first responder when touching placeholder text area (on iOS 5).
I don't understand how this is accepted as the correct answer. The question is for UITextView, not for UITextField. UITextView doesn't have such methods, so at least the first part of the answer is not correct. The second part has a problem, because the scroll indicator is going to be shown indented, too.

Julian B. · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-14 01:06:53Z

12

This worked for me using swift 2.0:

textView.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(10, 10, 10, 10)

answered Aug 14, 2016 at 1:06

Julian B.

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1 Comment

Shivam Pokhriyal Over a year ago

@JulianB. Is there anything similar for UITextField

LAD · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-17 09:37:36Z

For Swift 4.2:

textview.contentInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 2, left: 10, bottom: 2, right: 10)

Adam Stoller · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-11 15:10:48Z

For Swift 3 - the answer appears to be similar, but slightly different:

textview.contentEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 2, left: 10, bottom: 2, right: 10)

(Actually, I used the above for a UIButtonView, but as it is so closed to the answers that were posted for UITextView I'm thinking [hoping] that it applies for that too)

Sorry for downvoting, but in truth it doesn't apply here. On UITextView it's called textView.textContainerInset
Swift 4 version of the same: textView.contentInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 0, bottom: 0, right: 50)

Chowdhury Md Rajib Sarwar · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-19 06:39:30Z

Simply create an extension of UITextView using Container Edge Inset as following:

extension UITextView { func leftSpace() { self.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 4, left: 6, bottom: 4, right: 4) } }

and use it like:

let textView = UITextView() textView. leftSpace()

Akash Shindhe · Accepted Answer · 2024-06-06 12:08:07Z

textContainerInset - should be set and lineFragmentPadding should be set to 0 for removing default padding

 override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() let textView = UITextView() textView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false textView.text = "This is a sample text for the UITextView." textView.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 16) textView.backgroundColor = UIColor.lightGray // Remove top and bottom padding textView.textContainerInset = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 0, bottom: 0, right: 0) textView.textContainer.lineFragmentPadding = 0 view.addSubview(textView) // Set up constraints NSLayoutConstraint.activate([ textView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor, constant: 20), textView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor, constant: -20), textView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.topAnchor, constant: 100), textView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 200) ]) }

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