How do I convert a Swift Array to a String?
arrays, ios, swift
Solution
If the array contains strings, you can use the `String`'s `join` method:
var array = ["1", "2", "3"]
let stringRepresentation = "-".join(array) // "1-2-3"
In Swift 2:
var array = ["1", "2", "3"]
let stringRepresentation = array.joinWithSeparator("-") // "1-2-3"
This can be useful if you want to use a specific separator (hyphen, blank, comma, etc).
Otherwise, you can simply use the `description` property, which returns a string representation of the array:
let stringRepresentation = [1, 2, 3].description // "[1, 2, 3]"
Hint: any object implementing the `Printable` protocol has a `description` property. If you adopt that protocol in your classes/structs, you make them print-friendly as well
In Swift 3
- `join` becomes `joined`, example `[nil, "1", "2"].flatMap({$0}).joined()`
- `joinWithSeparator` becomes `joined(separator:)` (only available to Array of Strings)
In Swift 4
var array = ["1", "2", "3"]
array.joined(separator:"-")
Problem
I know how to programmatically do it, but I'm sure there's a built-in way... Every language I've used has some sort of default textual representation for a collection of objects that it will spit out when you try to concatenate the Array with a string, or pass it to a print() function, etc. Does Apple's Swift language have a built-in way of easily turning an Array into a String, or do we always have to be explicit when stringifying an array?