How to add NSLinkAttributeName to emoji?

Question

I am trying to use emoji as a link.

emojiString.addAttribute(NSLinkAttributeName, value: "https://www.google.com/" , range: NSMakeRange(0,1))

The code above turns the emoji into a link but the emoji will disappear.

Answer 1

The cause of your issue may be this:

NSMakeRange(0,1)

Many Cocoa/Cocoa Touch APIs use UTF-16 based offsets & counts.

And most emojis are made of 2 UTF-16 code units, some others 4 or more.

If you want to make a range indicating the first character of emojiString.string, and make it a link, you may need to write something like this:

if let ch = emojiString.string.characters.first {
    let range = NSRange(0..<String(ch).utf16.count)
    emojiString.addAttribute(NSLinkAttributeName, value: "https://www.google.com/" , range: range)
}