foundation-attributed-string

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AttributedString Patterns

Correct API shapes and patterns for Foundation's AttributedString. Covers creating styled text, applying attributes to ranges, text alignment, writing direction, line height control, text selection and editing, discontiguous substrings, and SwiftUI integration.

When This Skill Activates

Use this skill when the user:

• Asks about AttributedString creation or manipulation
• Wants to style text with fonts, colors, underlines, or other attributes
• Mentions text alignment, writing direction, or line height
• Asks about text selection or text editing with AttributedString
• Wants to work with DiscontiguousAttributedSubstring or RangeSet
• Mentions TextEditor with AttributedString in SwiftUI
• Asks about rich text formatting in Swift
• Wants to replace or modify text within an AttributedString
• Mentions paragraphStyle, textSelectionAffinity, or AttributedTextSelection

Decision Tree

What do you need with AttributedString?
|
+-- Create or style text
|   |
|   +-- Simple inline attributes (font, color)
|   |   --> Creating and Styling section
|   |
|   +-- Paragraph-level formatting (alignment, line height)
|       --> Text Alignment and Formatting section
|
+-- Control text layout
|   |
|   +-- Writing direction (LTR / RTL)
|   |   --> Writing Direction and Line Height section
|   |
|   +-- Line spacing / height
|       --> Writing Direction and Line Height section
|
+-- Edit or select text programmatically
|   |
|   +-- Replace selection with characters or AttributedString
|   |   --> Text Selection and Editing section
|   |
|   +-- Work with multiple non-contiguous ranges
|       --> DiscontiguousAttributedSubstring section
|
+-- Display in SwiftUI
    --> SwiftUI Integration section

API Availability

API	Minimum Version	Notes
AttributedString	iOS 15 / macOS 12	Swift-native replacement for NSAttributedString
AttributedString.font	iOS 15 / macOS 12	Inline attribute
AttributedString.foregroundColor	iOS 15 / macOS 12	Inline attribute
AttributedString.paragraphStyle	iOS 15 / macOS 12	Uses NSMutableParagraphStyle
AttributedString.writingDirection	iOS 26 / macOS 26	New in 2025
AttributedString.LineHeight	iOS 26 / macOS 26	.exact(points:), .multiple(factor:), .loose
AttributedString.alignment	iOS 26 / macOS 26	.left, .center, .right
AttributedTextSelection	iOS 26 / macOS 26	Programmatic text selection
replaceSelection(_:withCharacters:)	iOS 26 / macOS 26	Replace selection with plain characters
replaceSelection(_:with:)	iOS 26 / macOS 26	Replace selection with AttributedString
DiscontiguousAttributedSubstring	iOS 26 / macOS 26	Non-contiguous range selections
AttributedString.utf8	iOS 26 / macOS 26	UTF-8 code unit view
TextEditor(text:selection:) with AttributedString	iOS 26 / macOS 26	SwiftUI rich text editing
.textSelectionAffinity(_:)	iOS 26 / macOS 26	Control cursor affinity at line boundaries

Top 5 Mistakes

#	Mistake	Fix
1	Using NSAttributedString in new Swift code	Use AttributedString (iOS 15+) for type-safe, Swift-native attributes
2	Applying range-based attributes without checking the range exists	Always safely unwrap the result of text.range(of:) before subscripting
3	Forgetting that AttributedString is a value type	Mutations require var, not let; assign attributes after declaring as var
4	Building NSMutableParagraphStyle when new alignment API is available	Use text.alignment = .center on iOS 26+ instead of manual paragraph styles
5	Modifying the original string instead of the selection when using replaceSelection	Pass the selection as inout and let the API update the selection range for you

Creating and Styling

Basic Initialization

// Plain text
let plain = AttributedString("Hello, world!")

// With attributes applied inline
var bold = AttributedString("Bold text")
bold.font = .boldSystemFont(ofSize: 16)

Applying Attributes to Ranges

var text = AttributedString("Styled text")
text.foregroundColor = .red
text.backgroundColor = .yellow
text.font = .systemFont(ofSize: 14)

// Attribute on a specific range
if let range = text.range(of: "Styled") {
    text[range].underlineStyle = .single
    text[range].underlineColor = .blue
}

Creating from a Substring

let source = AttributedString("Hello, world!")
if let range = source.range(of: "world") {
    let substring = source[range]
    let extracted = AttributedString(substring) // standalone copy
}

Pattern	Verdict
var text = AttributedString("...") then mutate	Correct
let text = AttributedString("...") then mutate	Will not compile -- value type requires var
Force-unwrapping text.range(of:)!	Fragile -- use if let or guard let

Text Alignment and Formatting

Legacy Approach (iOS 15+)

var paragraph = AttributedString("Centered paragraph of text")
let style = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
style.alignment = .center
paragraph.paragraphStyle = style

Modern Approach (iOS 26+)

var paragraph = AttributedString("Centered paragraph of text")
paragraph.alignment = .center

Available TextAlignment values:

Value	Description
.left	Left-aligned text
.right	Right-aligned text
.center	Center-aligned text

Writing Direction and Line Height

Writing Direction (iOS 26+)

var text = AttributedString("Hello عربي")
text.writingDirection = .rightToLeft

Value	Description
.leftToRight	Standard LTR layout
.rightToLeft	RTL layout for Arabic, Hebrew, etc.

Line Height (iOS 26+)

var multiline = AttributedString(
    "This is a paragraph\nwith multiple lines\nof text."
)

// Exact point value
multiline.lineHeight = .exact(points: 32)

// Multiplier of the default line height
multiline.lineHeight = .multiple(factor: 2.5)

// System-defined loose spacing
multiline.lineHeight = .loose

Mode	Use Case
.exact(points:)	Pixel-perfect designs with fixed line heights
.multiple(factor:)	Proportional scaling relative to font size
.loose	Comfortable reading spacing chosen by the system

Text Selection and Editing

Replacing Selected Text (iOS 26+)

var text = AttributedString("Here is my dog")
var selection = AttributedTextSelection(range: text.range(of: "dog")!)

// Replace with plain characters
text.replaceSelection(&selection, withCharacters: "cat")

// Replace with an AttributedString
let replacement = AttributedString("horse")
text.replaceSelection(&selection, with: replacement)

Key points:

• selection is passed as inout so the API updates the selection range after replacement.
• Use withCharacters: for plain text, with: for styled replacements.

DiscontiguousAttributedSubstring

Select and manipulate multiple non-contiguous ranges at once (iOS 26+).

let text = AttributedString("Select multiple parts of this text")

if let range1 = text.range(of: "Select"),
   let range2 = text.range(of: "text") {
    let rangeSet = RangeSet([range1, range2])
    var substring = text[rangeSet] // DiscontiguousAttributedSubstring
    substring.backgroundColor = .yellow

    // Flatten into a single contiguous AttributedString
    let combined = AttributedString(substring)
}

Operation	Result Type
text[range]	AttributedSubstring (contiguous)
text[rangeSet]	DiscontiguousAttributedSubstring (non-contiguous)
AttributedString(substring)	Flattened AttributedString copy

UTF-8 View

Access raw UTF-8 code units (iOS 26+):

let text = AttributedString("Hello")
for codeUnit in text.utf8 {
    print(codeUnit)
}

SwiftUI Integration

TextEditor with AttributedString and Selection (iOS 26+)

struct SuggestionTextEditor: View {
    @State var text: AttributedString = ""
    @State var selection = AttributedTextSelection()

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            TextEditor(text: $text, selection: $selection)
            SuggestionsView(
                substrings: getSubstrings(
                    text: text,
                    indices: selection.indices(in: text)
                )
            )
        }
    }
}

Text Selection Affinity

Control which line the cursor appears on when positioned at a line boundary:

TextEditor(text: $text, selection: $selection)
    .textSelectionAffinity(.upstream)

Value	Behavior
.upstream	Cursor stays at end of previous line
.downstream	Cursor moves to start of next line

Displaying Styled Text in SwiftUI

// Simple display
Text(attributedString)

// With text selection enabled
Text(attributedString)
    .textSelection(.enabled)

Review Checklist

Correctness

• Using AttributedString (not NSAttributedString) for new Swift code
• All range lookups safely unwrapped with if let or guard let
• String declared as var before applying attributes
• replaceSelection passes selection as inout (&selection)

Platform and Versioning

• New APIs (alignment, writingDirection, lineHeight, selection) gated to iOS 26+ / macOS 26+
• Legacy paragraph style approach used for iOS 15-25 targets
• Availability checks (if #available) wrap newer APIs when supporting older deployment targets

SwiftUI

• TextEditor(text:selection:) overload used for rich text editing (iOS 26+)
• .textSelectionAffinity applied where cursor behavior at line wraps matters
• .textSelection(.enabled) added to Text views that display user content

Accessibility

• Foreground and background color combinations meet contrast requirements
• Styled text does not rely solely on color to convey meaning (add underline, bold, or icons)
• Writing direction set correctly for RTL language content

References

• AttributedString | Apple Developer Documentation
• Text | Apple Developer Documentation
• TextEditor | Apple Developer Documentation