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Text widgets display information to the user without requiring interaction. Dear ImGui provides several text functions for different formatting needs.

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Basic Text Functions

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Text()

Display formatted text using printf-style formatting: 
IMGUI_API void Text(const char* fmt, ...) IM_FMTARGS(1);

ImGui::Text("Hello, world!");
ImGui::Text("Counter: %d", counter);
ImGui::Text("FPS: %.1f", ImGui::GetIO().Framerate);

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TextUnformatted()

Display raw text without formatting (faster for long text): 
IMGUI_API void TextUnformatted(const char* text, const char* text_end = NULL);
TextUnformatted() is more efficient than Text() for long text blocks as it doesn’t process format specifiers. It also supports non-null-terminated strings when text_end is provided.
const char* long_text = "This is a very long piece of text...";
ImGui::TextUnformatted(long_text);

// With explicit length
ImGui::TextUnformatted(long_text, long_text + 100);

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Colored Text

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TextColored()

Display text with a custom color: 
IMGUI_API void TextColored(const ImVec4& col, const char* fmt, ...) IM_FMTARGS(2);

ImGui::TextColored(ImVec4(1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f), "Pink");
ImGui::TextColored(ImVec4(1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f), "Yellow");
ImGui::TextColored(ImVec4(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f), "Error: %s", error_msg);

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TextDisabled()

Display text with the disabled color from the current style: 
IMGUI_API void TextDisabled(const char* fmt, ...) IM_FMTARGS(1);

ImGui::TextDisabled("(This option is disabled)");
ImGui::TextDisabled("Inactive: %d items", inactive_count);
The disabled color is defined in ImGuiStyle::Colors[ImGuiCol_TextDisabled]. Use this for consistency across your application.

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Wrapped Text

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TextWrapped()

Display text that automatically wraps at the window edge: 
IMGUI_API void TextWrapped(const char* fmt, ...) IM_FMTARGS(1);

ImGui::TextWrapped(
    "This text should automatically wrap on the edge of the window. "
    "The current implementation for text wrapping follows simple rules "
    "suitable for English and possibly other languages."
);

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Custom Text Wrapping

For more control over text wrapping, use PushTextWrapPos() / PopTextWrapPos(): 
IMGUI_API void PushTextWrapPos(float wrap_local_pos_x = 0.0f);
IMGUI_API void PopTextWrapPos();
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wrap_local_pos_x
float
  • < 0.0f: No wrapping
  • = 0.0f: Wrap to end of window (or column)
  • > 0.0f: Wrap at specified position in window local space
float wrap_width = 200.0f;
ImGui::PushTextWrapPos(ImGui::GetCursorPos().x + wrap_width);
ImGui::Text("The lazy dog is a good dog. This paragraph should fit within %.0f pixels.", wrap_width);
ImGui::PopTextWrapPos();

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Label and Value Pairs

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LabelText()

Display a label and value aligned like other widgets: 
IMGUI_API void LabelText(const char* label, const char* fmt, ...) IM_FMTARGS(2);

ImGui::LabelText("label", "Value");
ImGui::LabelText("Position", "(%.1f, %.1f)", x, y);
ImGui::LabelText("Status", "%s", status_text);

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BulletText()

Display text with a bullet point: 
IMGUI_API void BulletText(const char* fmt, ...) IM_FMTARGS(1);

ImGui::BulletText("Important point 1");
ImGui::BulletText("Important point 2");
ImGui::BulletText("Count: %d", count);
You can also use Bullet() separately to just draw the bullet: 
ImGui::Bullet();
ImGui::Text("Custom content after bullet");

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Separator Text

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SeparatorText()

Display a horizontal line with text (added in recent versions): 
IMGUI_API void SeparatorText(const char* label);

ImGui::SeparatorText("Section 1");
// ... content ...

ImGui::SeparatorText("Section 2");
// ... content ...

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Text Links

Display clickable hyperlink-style text: 
IMGUI_API bool TextLink(const char* label);
IMGUI_API bool TextLinkOpenURL(const char* label, const char* url = NULL);

if (ImGui::TextLink("Documentation")) {
    OpenBrowser("https://github.com/ocornut/imgui");
}

// Automatically opens URL when clicked
ImGui::TextLinkOpenURL("GitHub", "https://github.com/ocornut/imgui");

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Font Size Control

You can change the font size for text rendering: 
IMGUI_API void PushFont(ImFont* font, float font_size_base_unscaled);
IMGUI_API void PopFont();

ImGuiStyle& style = ImGui::GetStyle();

// Double the current font size
ImGui::PushFont(NULL, style.FontSizeBase * 2.0f);
ImGui::Text("Large Text");
ImGui::PopFont();

// Custom size
ImGui::PushFont(NULL, 24.0f);
ImGui::Text("24-point text");
ImGui::PopFont();
Use NULL for the font parameter to keep the current font. The font_size_base_unscaled parameter is the size before global scale factors are applied.

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Complete Example

void ShowTextDemo() {
    ImGui::Begin("Text Demo");
    
    // Basic text
    ImGui::Text("Basic text output");
    ImGui::Text("Counter: %d", frame_count);
    
    ImGui::Spacing();
    
    // Colored text
    ImGui::TextColored(ImVec4(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f), "Error message");
    ImGui::TextColored(ImVec4(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f), "Success!");
    ImGui::TextDisabled("Disabled information");
    
    ImGui::Spacing();
    
    // Wrapped text
    ImGui::TextWrapped(
        "This is a long piece of text that will automatically wrap "
        "when it reaches the edge of the window."
    );
    
    ImGui::Spacing();
    
    // Bullet points
    ImGui::BulletText("Feature 1");
    ImGui::BulletText("Feature 2");
    ImGui::BulletText("Feature 3");
    
    ImGui::Spacing();
    
    // Label-value pairs
    ImGui::LabelText("Name", "John Doe");
    ImGui::LabelText("Score", "%d", player_score);
    
    ImGui::Spacing();
    
    // Separator with text
    ImGui::SeparatorText("Additional Info");
    
    // Hyperlink
    ImGui::TextLinkOpenURL("Documentation", "https://github.com/ocornut/imgui");
    
    ImGui::End();
}

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Best Practices

Avoid calling Text() in tight loops with string concatenation. Pre-format strings or use TextUnformatted() for better performance.
Use ImGui::GetIO().Framerate to display FPS: ImGui::Text("%.1f FPS", ImGui::GetIO().Framerate);

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