246
votes

Simple question here. I have a UIButton, currencySelector, and I want to programmatically change the text. Here's what I have:

currencySelector.text = "foobar"

Xcode gives me the error "Expected Declaration". What am I doing wrong, and how can I make the button's text change?

11

11 Answers

659
votes

In Swift 3, 4, 5:

button.setTitle("Button Title", for: .normal)

Otherwise:

button.setTitle("Button Title", forState: UIControlState.Normal)

Also an @IBOutlet has to declared for the button.

77
votes

Just a clarification for those new to Swift and iOS programming. Below line of code:

button.setTitle("myTitle", forState: UIControlState.Normal)

only applies to IBOutlets, not IBActions.

So, if your app is using a button as a function to execute some code, say playing music, and you want to change the title from Play to Pause based on a toggle variable, you need to also create an IBOutlet for that button.

If you try to use button.setTitle against an IBAction you will get an error. Its obvious once you know it, but for the noobs (we all were) this is a helpful tip.

15
votes

Swift 5.0

// Standard State
myButton.setTitle("Title", for: .normal)
14
votes

Swift 5:

    let controlStates: Array<UIControl.State> = [.normal, .highlighted, .disabled, .selected, .focused, .application, .reserved]
    for controlState in controlStates {
        button.setTitle(NSLocalizedString("Title", comment: ""), for: controlState)
    }
12
votes

Swift 3:

Set button title:

//for normal state:
my_btn.setTitle("Button Title", for: .normal)

// For highlighted state:
my_btn.setTitle("Button Title2", for: .highlighted)
7
votes

Changing title when attributed is a bit different :

I just ran into a problem : If you have an UIButton with an Attributed Title, you have to use :

my_btn.setAttributedTitle(NSAttributedString(string: my_title), for: my_state)

as, per Apple SetTitle Doc :

If you set both a title and an attributed title for the button, the button prefers the use of the attributed title over this one.

I had an attributed title and I tried to setTitle on it, with no effect...

3
votes

Swift 3

When you make the @IBAction:

@IBAction func btnAction(_ sender: UIButton) {
  sender.setTitle("string goes here", for: .normal)
}

This sets the sender as UIButton (instead of Any) so it targets the btnAction as a UIButton

2
votes

swift 4.2 and above

using button's IBOutlet

btnOutlet.setTitle("New Title", for: .normal)

using button's IBAction

@IBAction func btnAction(_ sender: UIButton) {
  sender.setTitle("New Title", for: .normal)
}
1
votes

//for normal state:

btnSecurite.setTitle("TextHear", for: .normal)
0
votes

Swift 3

let button: UIButton = UIButton()
button.frame = CGRect.init(x: view.frame.width/2, y: view.frame.height/2, width: 100, height: 100)
button.setTitle(“Title Button”, for: .normal)
0
votes

To set a title for a button in Xcode using swift - 04: first create a method called setTitle with parameter title and UIController state like below ;

func setTitle(_ title : String?, for state : UIControl.State)   {

}

and recall this method in your button action method like ;

yourButtonName.setTitle("String", for: .state)