How to add a section header to a table view

Paul Hudson    September 15th 2016    @twostraws

You can use the built-in iOS table section headers by returning a value from titleForHeaderInSection like this:

override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, titleForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> String? {
    return "Section \(section)"
}

If you want to return a custom header view with something more than just some text, you should use viewForHeaderInSection instead, like this:

override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, viewForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> UIView? {
    let vw = UIView()
    vw.backgroundColor = UIColor.red

    return vw
}

Available from iOS 2.0

Did this solution work for you? Please pass it on!

Tweet

Other people are reading…

• How to force a UIView to redraw: setNeedsDisplay()
• How to give a UINavigationBar a background image: setBackgroundImage()
• How to respond to the device being shaken
• How to render shadows using NSShadow and setShadow()
• How to hide the status bar

About the Swift Knowledge Base

This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.