Labels - amCharts 5

Overview

Labels in amCharts 5 are text elements that can display static text, dynamic data values, and formatted content. The Label class extends Container and provides extensive text styling and formatting capabilities.

Creating Labels

Basic Label

import * as am5 from "@amcharts/amcharts5";

const label = root.container.children.push(
  am5.Label.new(root, {
    text: "Hello amCharts!",
    fontSize: 20,
    fontWeight: "bold",
    fill: am5.color(0x000000)
  })
);

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:250-463

Label with Position

const label = root.container.children.push(
  am5.Label.new(root, {
    text: "Positioned Label",
    x: 100,
    y: 50,
    centerX: am5.p50,  // Center horizontally
    centerY: am5.p50   // Center vertically
  })
);

Text Styling

Font Properties

Control typography with various font settings:

const styledLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Styled Text",
  
  // Font family (can specify multiple fallbacks)
  fontFamily: "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif",
  
  // Font size (pixels or string)
  fontSize: 24,  // or "24px", "1.5em", "12pt"
  
  // Font weight
  fontWeight: "bold",  // "normal", "lighter", "100"-"900"
  
  // Font style
  fontStyle: "italic",  // "normal", "oblique"
  
  // Font variant
  fontVariant: "small-caps",  // "normal"
  
  // Text decoration (v5.0.15+)
  textDecoration: "underline"  // "line-through"
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:50-83

Color and Opacity

const coloredLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Colored Text",
  
  // Text color
  fill: am5.color(0x3366cc),
  
  // Text opacity (v5.2.39+)
  fillOpacity: 0.8,
  
  // Overall label opacity
  opacity: 1
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:24-35

Text with Gradient (v5.10.1+)

const gradientLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Gradient Text",
  fontSize: 48,
  fontWeight: "bold",
  fillGradient: am5.LinearGradient.new(root, {
    stops: [
      { color: am5.color(0xff6b6b) },
      { color: am5.color(0x4ecdc4) }
    ],
    rotation: 0
  })
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:37-42

Text Alignment

Horizontal Alignment

// Left aligned
const leftLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Left aligned",
  textAlign: "left"  // "start"
});

// Center aligned
const centerLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Center aligned",
  textAlign: "center"
});

// Right aligned
const rightLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Right aligned",
  textAlign: "right"  // "end"
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:45-47

Baseline Alignment

const label = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Baseline Text",
  textBaseline: "middle"
  // Options: "top", "hanging", "middle", "alphabetic", "ideographic", "bottom"
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:113-114

Text Direction

// Left-to-right (default)
const ltrLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Left to Right",
  direction: "ltr"
});

// Right-to-left (for Arabic, Hebrew, etc.)
const rtlLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "مرحبا",
  direction: "rtl"
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:105-109

Line Height and Spacing

Line Height

const multilineLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3",
  
  // Absolute pixel value
  lineHeight: 24,
  
  // Or as percentage
  // lineHeight: am5.percent(120)
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:86-88

Baseline Ratio

Control how much of the height goes below the baseline:

const label = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Text with custom baseline",
  baselineRatio: 0.19  // Default value
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:91-95

Oversized Text Handling

Truncation

const truncatedLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "This is a very long text that will be truncated",
  width: 200,
  oversizedBehavior: "truncate",
  ellipsis: "..."  // Default: "…"
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:116-150

Text Wrapping

const wrappedLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "This is a long text that will wrap to multiple lines",
  width: 200,
  oversizedBehavior: "wrap",
  breakWords: false  // Don't break in the middle of words
});

// Wrap without breaking words
const noBreakLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Text with wrapping",
  width: 200,
  oversizedBehavior: "wrap-no-break"
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:127-131

Fitting

Scale text to fit available space:

const fitLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "This text will scale to fit",
  width: 200,
  height: 50,
  oversizedBehavior: "fit",
  minScale: 0.5  // Don't scale below 50%
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:153-159

Hiding

const hideLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "This will hide if it doesn't fit",
  width: 100,
  oversizedBehavior: "hide"
});

Maximum Characters

Limit text length (v5.7.2+):

const limitedLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "This text will be limited to 20 characters maximum",
  maxChars: 20,
  ellipsis: "..."
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:220-227

Data Binding

Populate Text from Data

Use placeholders to insert data values:

const label = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "{category}: {value}",
  populateText: true
});

// When label is assigned to a data item, placeholders are replaced
label._setDataItem(dataItem);

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:162-167

Getting Populated Text

const label = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Value: {value}",
  populateText: true
});

// Get the text with placeholders filled in
const populatedText = label.getText();

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:444-451

Text Formatting

Inline Formatting

By default, labels support rich text formatting:

const formattedLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "[bold]Bold text[/] and [fontSize: 20px]larger text[/]"
});

// Disable formatting to show literal text
const literalLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "[bold]This will show literally[/]",
  ignoreFormatting: true
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:170-175

Shadows

Add shadow effects to labels:

const shadowLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Text with Shadow",
  fontSize: 32,
  fontWeight: "bold",
  fill: am5.color(0xffffff),
  
  // Shadow properties
  shadowColor: am5.color(0x000000),
  shadowBlur: 4,
  shadowOffsetX: 2,
  shadowOffsetY: 2,
  shadowOpacity: 0.5
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:178-217

Axis Labels

Customizing Axis Labels

import * as am5xy from "@amcharts/amcharts5/xy";

const xAxis = chart.xAxes.push(
  am5xy.CategoryAxis.new(root, {
    categoryField: "category",
    renderer: am5xy.AxisRendererX.new(root, {})
  })
);

// Customize axis labels
xAxis.get("renderer").labels.template.setAll({
  fontSize: 12,
  fill: am5.color(0x666666),
  rotation: -45,
  centerX: am5.p100,
  centerY: am5.p50,
  paddingRight: 10
});

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/charts/xy/axes/AxisLabel.ts:1-463

Hide Axis Labels

xAxis.get("renderer").labels.template.set("visible", false);

Series Labels

Data Labels on Columns

const series = chart.series.push(
  am5xy.ColumnSeries.new(root, {
    xAxis: xAxis,
    yAxis: yAxis,
    valueYField: "value",
    categoryXField: "category"
  })
);

// Add labels to show values
series.bullets.push(function() {
  return am5.Bullet.new(root, {
    locationY: 1,
    sprite: am5.Label.new(root, {
      text: "{valueY}",
      fill: am5.color(0xffffff),
      centerY: am5.p100,
      centerX: am5.p50,
      populateText: true
    })
  });
});

Data Labels on Line Series

const series = chart.series.push(
  am5xy.LineSeries.new(root, {
    xAxis: xAxis,
    yAxis: yAxis,
    valueYField: "value",
    categoryXField: "category"
  })
);

// Add labels at each data point
series.bullets.push(function() {
  return am5.Bullet.new(root, {
    sprite: am5.Label.new(root, {
      text: "{valueY}",
      fontSize: 11,
      fill: am5.color(0x000000),
      centerY: am5.p100,
      centerX: am5.p50,
      dy: -5,  // Offset above the point
      populateText: true
    })
  });
});

Accessibility

ARIA Labels

Provide screen reader text:

const label = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Chart Title",
  role: "heading",
  ariaLabel: "Main chart showing sales data"
});

Getting Accessible Text

const accessibleText = label.getAccessibleText();

Source: /home/daytona/workspace/source/src/.internal/core/render/Label.ts:453-461

HTML Labels

Use HTML content instead of canvas text:

const htmlLabel = am5.Label.new(root, {
  html: "<div style='color: red;'>HTML Content</div>",
  fontSize: 16
});

// Note: When HTML is set, regular text is not displayed

Performance Considerations

Reusing Labels

// Create label template once
const labelTemplate = am5.Label.new(root, {
  fontSize: 12,
  fill: am5.color(0x000000)
});

// Reuse for multiple instances
xAxis.get("renderer").labels.template = labelTemplate;
yAxis.get("renderer").labels.template = labelTemplate;

Limiting Visible Labels

xAxis.get("renderer").labels.template.adapters.add("visible", (visible, target) => {
  // Show every nth label
  const index = target.dataItem?.index || 0;
  return index % 2 === 0;
});

Best Practices

Use Appropriate Font Sizes

Choose font sizes that are readable across devices:

// Title
const title = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Chart Title",
  fontSize: 24,
  fontWeight: "bold"
});

// Regular labels
const label = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Label",
  fontSize: 12
});

// Small annotations
const annotation = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Note",
  fontSize: 10
});

Handle Oversized Text

Always specify how to handle text that doesn’t fit:

const label = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "Long text content",
  width: 200,
  oversizedBehavior: "wrap",  // or "truncate", "fit", "hide"
  breakWords: false
});

Consider Accessibility

Provide ARIA labels for screen readers:

const label = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "$1,234",
  ariaLabel: "One thousand two hundred thirty-four dollars",
  populateText: true
});

Use Data Binding

Enable populateText when showing dynamic data:

const label = am5.Label.new(root, {
  text: "{category}: {value}",
  populateText: true  // Required for placeholder replacement
});

Apply Consistent Styling

Define style constants for consistency:

const LABEL_STYLE = {
  fontFamily: "Arial, sans-serif",
  fontSize: 12,
  fill: am5.color(0x333333)
};

const label1 = am5.Label.new(root, {
  ...LABEL_STYLE,
  text: "Label 1"
});

const label2 = am5.Label.new(root, {
  ...LABEL_STYLE,
  text: "Label 2"
});

Tooltips

Display contextual information on hover

Legends

Create interactive legend labels

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Chart Types

XY Charts

Map Charts

Stock Charts

Customization

Data

Plugins

Advanced

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Creating Labels

​Basic Label

​Label with Position

​Text Styling

​Font Properties

​Color and Opacity

​Text with Gradient (v5.10.1+)

​Text Alignment

​Horizontal Alignment

​Baseline Alignment

​Text Direction

​Line Height and Spacing

​Line Height

​Baseline Ratio

​Oversized Text Handling

​Truncation

​Text Wrapping

​Fitting

​Hiding

​Maximum Characters

​Data Binding

​Populate Text from Data

​Getting Populated Text

​Text Formatting

​Inline Formatting

​Shadows

​Axis Labels

​Customizing Axis Labels

​Hide Axis Labels

​Series Labels

​Data Labels on Columns

​Data Labels on Line Series

​Accessibility

​ARIA Labels

​Getting Accessible Text

​HTML Labels

​Performance Considerations

​Reusing Labels

​Limiting Visible Labels

​Best Practices

​Related