最好的方法是设置文本更改通知。在视图控制器方法的-awakeFromNib中，你需要:

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(limitTextField:) name:@"UITextFieldTextDidChangeNotification" object:myTextField];

然后在同一个类中添加:

- (void)limitTextField:(NSNotification *)note {
    int limit = 20;
    if ([[myTextField stringValue] length] > limit) {
        [myTextField setStringValue:[[myTextField stringValue] substringToIndex:limit]];
    }
}

然后链接出口myTextField到你的UITextField，它将不让你添加任何字符后，你达到限制。一定要把这个添加到你的dealloc方法中:

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self name:@"UITextFieldTextDidChangeNotification" object:myTextField];

Swift 5

添加UITextfield的扩展，然后选择一个文本字段并检查属性检查器

private var __maxLengths = [UITextField: Int]()

extension UITextField {
    @IBInspectable var maxLength: Int {
        get {
            guard let l = __maxLengths[self] else {
               return 150 // (default int limit)
            }
            return l
        }
        set {
            __maxLengths[self] = newValue
            addTarget(self, action: #selector(setMaxLength), for: .editingChanged)
        }
    }

    @objc func setMaxLength(textField: UITextField) {
        let t = textField.text
        textField.text = t?.prefix(maxLength).description
    }
}

我发现这个方法又快又简单

- (IBAction)backgroundClick:(id)sender {
    if (mytext.length <= 7) {
        [mytext resignFirstResponder];
    } else {
        UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Too Big" 
                                                        message:@"Please Shorten Name"
                                                       delegate:nil 
                                              cancelButtonTitle:@"Cancel"
                                              otherButtonTitles:nil];
        [alert show];
        [alert release];
    }
}

我已经实现了一个UITextField扩展，以添加一个maxLength属性。

它基于Xcode 6 IBInspectables，所以你可以在接口构建器上设置maxLength限制。

实现如下:

UITextField + MaxLength。h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UITextField_MaxLength : UITextField<UITextFieldDelegate>

@property (nonatomic)IBInspectable int textMaxLength;
@end

UITextField + MaxLength。m

#import "UITextField+MaxLength.h"

@interface UITextField_MaxLength()

@property (nonatomic, assign) id <UITextFieldDelegate> superDelegate;

@end

@implementation UITextField_MaxLength

- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *) textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string {

    //validate the length, only if it's set to a non zero value
    if (self.textMaxLength>0) {
        if(range.length + range.location > textField.text.length)
            return NO;

        if (textField.text.length+string.length - range.length>self.textMaxLength) {
            return NO;
        }
    }

    //if length validation was passed, query the super class to see if the delegate method is implemented there
    if (self.superDelegate && [self.superDelegate respondsToSelector:@selector(textField:shouldChangeCharactersInRange:replacementString:)]) {
        return [self.superDelegate textField:textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:range replacementString:string];
    }
    else{
        //if the super class does not implement the delegate method, simply return YES as the length validation was passed
        return YES;
    }
}

- (void)setDelegate:(id<UITextFieldDelegate>)delegate {
    if (delegate == self)
        return;
    self.superDelegate = delegate;
    [super setDelegate:self];
}

//forward all non overriden delegate methods
- (id)forwardingTargetForSelector:(SEL)aSelector {
    if ([self.superDelegate  respondsToSelector:aSelector])
        return self.superDelegate;

    return [super forwardingTargetForSelector:aSelector];
}

- (BOOL)respondsToSelector:(SEL)aSelector {
    if ([self.superDelegate respondsToSelector:aSelector])
        return YES;

    return [super respondsToSelector:aSelector];
}
@end

在Swift 5.2中工作:

 class AngListVC: UIViewController, UITextFieldDelegate {

    @IBOutlet weak var angTextField: UITextField!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        angTextField.delegate = self
        angTextField.addTarget(self, action: #selector(textFieldDidChange(_:)), for: .editingChanged)
      
    }

   func textField(_ textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {
           let userText =  angTextField.text ?? ""
           var newText = ""
           if range.length > 0 {
               let txt = NSString(string: userText)
               if txt.length > 0 {
                   newText = txt.replacingCharacters(in: range, with: "")
               }
           } else {
               newText = userText + ""
           }
           return newText.count <= 3
       }

@objc func textFieldDidChange(_ textField: UITextField) {
        print("textFieldDidChange")
   }

我想补充一下@sickp给出的答案。

在他的Swift代码中有一个问题，任何多字节文本(例如表情符号)都会出现。NSRange和String在Swift中是不兼容的，所以委托类将它们结合在一起是令人沮丧的。技巧是简单地转换String对象到NSString正确的解决方案，基于什么@sickp写，实际上是这样的:

func textField(_ textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersIn range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {

    let currentText = (textField.text as NSString?) ?? NSString()
    let currentCharacterCount = currentText.length
    if range.length + range.location > currentCharacterCount {
        return false
    }
    let newLength = currentText.replacingCharacters(in: range, with: string).characters.count
    return newLength <= 25
}