Use medieval (lowercase, unlined) numbers

Question

I have a request from a client to use a specific font in an iOS 7 project because it has medieval numbers .

Is there a way to activate these numbers for NSAttributedString? Because the default pad numbers are used, which are included in the font as well.

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Here is an example. Both lines have the same font without a variant (Regular), once with activated numbers from the Middle Ages, the second with default numbers.

Answer 1

They are called lowercase numbers and can be included using the UIFontDescriptor .

First you need to import CoreText for some constants:

 #import <CoreText/SFNTLayoutTypes.h> or @import CoreText.SFNTLayoutTypes; 

Then create the font using the font descriptor. Here I use the Georgian family:

 NSDictionary *lowercaseNumbers = @{ UIFontFeatureTypeIdentifierKey: @(kNumberCaseType), UIFontFeatureSelectorIdentifierKey: @(kLowerCaseNumbersSelector), }; UIFontDescriptor *descriptor = [[UIFontDescriptor alloc] initWithFontAttributes: @{ UIFontDescriptorFamilyAttribute: @"Georgia", UIFontDescriptorFeatureSettingsAttribute:@[ lowercaseNumbers ], }]; UIFont *font = [UIFont fontWithDescriptor:descriptor size:15]; 

Result:

Edit: As @ Random832 noted, in Georgia there are only lowercase numbers, so the result does not matter. However, @vikingosegundo confirmed that this code works on supported fonts. Thanks.

The top row was generated using

 UIFont *font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"DIN Next LT Pro" size:12]; if (font) label.font = font; 

second line with

 NSDictionary *lowercaseNumbers = @{ UIFontFeatureTypeIdentifierKey:@(kNumberCaseType), UIFontFeatureSelectorIdentifierKey: @(kLowerCaseNumbersSelector)}; UIFontDescriptor *descriptor = [[UIFontDescriptor alloc] initWithFontAttributes: @{UIFontDescriptorFamilyAttribute: @"DIN Next LT Pro",UIFontDescriptorFeatureSettingsAttribute:@[ lowercaseNumbers ]}]; UIFont *font = [UIFont fontWithDescriptor:descriptor size:12]; if (font) label.font = font; 

Answer 2

Another question has a pointer in the right direction, although the question refers to tabular figures [proportionally] rather than text vs lining.

It looks like you can use CTFontDescriptorCreateCopyWithFeature with kNumberCaseType set to kLowerCaseNumbersSelector to display numbers this way.

Here's another related question , and here's the blog post provided in the answer .